My husband and I had just returned to Jasper, one week after the official date of return. At our end of town, there is no avoiding the damage caused by the inferno. We had seen the images, of course, but viewing the damage in person was overwhelming. It was sensory overload, and we knew it would tak...

It’s been nine days since the largest wildfire in Jasper National Park’s recorded history started by lightning in extreme conditions. It’s been exactly a week since that fire blew up into an unstoppable inferno and 4,700 residents and another 20,000 or so visitors were forced to flee , in the middle...

Changes will send chills through municipal councils and create a lot of grief for MLAs  It has been very interesting to watch over the past week how Premier  Danielle Smith ’s United Conservative Party government has unrolled its suite of changes to municipal governance and local election laws, and ...

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Dear Editor, Jasper National Park management has closed large parts of formerly prime backcountry ski terrain as part of a larger program to protect and restore caribou populations that have sharply declined over the past century. JNP offers the hypothesis that ski tracks facilitate wolf movements a...

All of Jasper may have tuned into ABC’s The Bachelor Monday night, but I’m saving my screen time for an even juicier watch party. Even though I am DYING to see if true love blossoms in the Canadian Rockies and whether or not Bachelor Joey Graziadei’s polar plunge in Lac Beauvert will shrivel his cha...

Brian Sutherland, 1963-2024 “ Can ’ t stop what ’ s coming.” That was the message Brian Sutherland would, for many years, send me at some point in the summer. A 2012 "Can't stop what's coming" message. Sutherland was in BC when he sent his warning. The text was usually accompanied by a photo of a tr...

Dear Editor, This year, our school children are riding a white bus that is not following provincially legislated school bus rules, because it is, according to the Municipality of Jasper, a public transit bus providing select ridership for a special school route. This new town school route and servic...

Recipe for a Parks Canada consultation 1. Combine one part outdated regulations with two parts perfunctory dialogue 2. Sprinkle liberally with jargon 3. Stir awkwardly (by as many Parks Canada cooks as can fit in the kitchen) 4. Serve cold. Tell whoever has to swallow it how good it is for them  Wil...

What’s it going to take for Jasperites to start managing their wildlife attractants responsibly? All this fall, once again, bears have been running amok in Jasper. Morning and night—and even in the bustle of midday—bears are darting in and out of residential neighbourhoods, feasting on the easily-ac...