Jasper National Park has implemented area closures to give grizzly bears, black bears and calving elk room to roam. Grizzly bears are in the Jasper valley bottoms. Area closures along Trail 7 are in place to give them room. // Simone Heinrich Trail 7 along the south and east borders of the Jasper Pa...

Brian and I glanced at each other nervously, then raised our binoculars back to our eyes and continued scanning the horizon. Nothing. We had been dropped off in the middle of a vast black spruce bog in Wood Buffalo National Park. We were to have lunch while our helicopter pilot flew back to the fuel...

Parks Canada and Alberta Fish and Wildlife are reminding industry partners about the hazards of intervening in life-and-death situations involving wildlife. On March 11, Alberta Fish and Wildlife’s Hinton office received an atypical call from CN dispatchers after a bighorn sheep was injured on the r...

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...

Parks Canada reminding the public about staying safe in bear country The first bear sighting in Jasper National Park this spring has been reported. The black bear was spotted foraging for food in the Lac Beauvert area on the evening of April 2, and more black bears and grizzly bears are expected to ...

In part one of his series on caribou , biologist and wildlife photographer Mark Bradley discussed barren-ground caribou. Part two will focus on woodland caribou, the same ones found in Jasper National Park. Wolves, Elk and Caribou in Jasper National Park The area that is now Jasper National Park has...

“Mai, tuktumia’tuit!” That means “Wow, look at all those caribou!” (I think… my Inuktitut has not improved after 30 years of inactivity). It was a cold but sunny morning in late winter, somewhere along the treeline about 100 km west of Arviat, Nunavut. Peter, Joe and I were travelling by snowmobile ...

Three campers and a dog-walker have court dates after hiking into areas of Jasper National Park closed for caribou conservation. Parks Canada law enforcement staff responded to two separate incidents on the same day, according to media spokespeople for Jasper National Park. On the afternoon of Febru...

Campers, get ready to be happy. Starting next week, Parks Canada’s reservation system opens up and campers looking to enjoy the natural beauty of Jasper National Park, among other national parks and historic sites, will be able to book their trips. The reservation system for Jasper National Park fro...

The first time I saw an elk in Jasper, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones was topping the charts. No, this photo is not from 1965…the author just converted it to sepia tone to make it look "old timey." // Mark Bradley It was 1965, and we were in the middle of a family vacation to th...

Jasper National Park confirmed at least 34 caribou in the Tonquin Valley but did not spot any members of the Brazeau herd during aerial surveys in the fall.  Biologists collecting caribou scat // Parks Canada Biologists did, however, find tracks and scat of the Brazeau animals; remote wildlife camer...

I was driving on a snowy Maligne Road a number of years ago—one of those crisp winter days that make you glad you live in Jasper—when I spied a set of wolf tracks crossing the road. I stopped for a better look, and I had just crouched down to look at the tracks when I heard howling nearby. In my min...

A number of years ago I happened to be driving through Hay River, NWT . It was noon, so I grabbed a sandwich at a local coffee shop and sat myself down on a park bench to enjoy a leisurely lunch. Within minutes, five or six Common Ravens had gathered around me in a perfect semicircle and fixed me wi...

Moose are huge! With a dark-brown body, super long legs, large head with an elongated nose, generous lips and big ears...there is just no mistaking a moose.   Males (or bulls) can weigh up to 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) and grow a heavy set of antlers every year which are shed after the mating seas...

Sweet-smelling smoke curls from a smudge bowl. Outside of a tent erected near Jasper National Park’s Snaring River, alpenglow bathes the mountaintops in pink hues. Inside, an historic ceremony is about to take place. Elders from the Simpcw First Nation and elders from the Stoney Nation cup the wafti...

Parks Canada law enforcement wardens have initiated a poaching investigation after two bighorn sheep carcasses were discovered in Jasper National Park. On Tuesday, October 17, wildlife officials and wardens responded to a visitor’s report of a bighorn sheep’s carcass found near Jasper Lake, off High...

Two First Nations have signed an agreement with Parks Canada to carry out a traditional hunt in Jasper National Park. The two nations, whose traditional territories overlap the Rocky Mountains, are reawakening their relationship with each other and the landscape, said Stoney Nation spokesperson Barr...

A few years ago, I was helping Jasper National Park’s conservation biologist, Brenda Shepherd, conduct a survey for Black Swifts at Athabasca Falls. Black Swifts nest in canyons and even behind waterfalls. They leave the nest before sun up and don’t return until nightfall. Surveying for Black Swifts...

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...

Editor's note: An earlier version of this article said the caribou breeding facility had a $14 million budget. The budget has been increased significantly since that number was first reported and as of October 3, 2023, the investment from the federal government was $38.2 million. Parks Canada has sa...