To help provide peace of mind for a recovering community, the West Central Airshed Society (WCAS) has taken up long-term air monitoring for Jasper. The non-profit organization, which is responsible for monitoring and reporting outdoor air quality across west-central Alberta, replaced the Alberta gov...

Nature may look chaotic, but it is, in fact, very well organized. So says artist Dee McLean. “We mess with it at our peril,” she says. A scientific illustrator, painter, children’s book author, exhibit curator and former cricket coach, McLean uses art as a vehicle to engage her audience with science...

Two new reports shed light on how the 2024 Jasper wildfire spread so quickly. The reports, which were commissioned by Parks Canada, also reaffirm the importance of FireSmart principles. The Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) report focuses on the fire’s behaviour outside the townsite and its rapid gro...

“We’re all one day away from a life we don’t recognize.” An intimate story about grief and the healing power of art following the devastating 2024 Jasper Wildfire is making its debut on the world’s largest mountain arts stage. Embers , a new film directed by Kimberley-based filmmaker Trixie Pacis an...

After months of lobbying three different governments for reimbursed costs incurred while hosting Jasper wildfire evacuees, the Village of Valemount and nine Valemount businesses have had their voices heard. In August, the Village received $302,585.60, disbursed by the Alberta Government via the Muni...

The Municipality of Jasper has received the Disaster Recovery Institute Canada’s (DRI Canada) Award of Excellence. The honours were bestowed on the municipality for its courageous response to the July 2024 Jasper wildfire, the largest in more than 100 years in Jasper National Park. Jasper Wildfire C...

Permitting is steadily moving forward in Jasper, according to the Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre (JRCC). At the August 5 regular council meeting, Directory of Recovery Michael Fark updated Jasper Municipal Council on the most recent activity facilitated through the JRCC’s offices. Fark said tha...

Too restrictive regulations? Or insincere insurance companies? The Jasper Local digs into one of the complex elements of rebuilding in a national park Editor's note (Aug 11 5:30 p.m.): This story has been updated to include comment from the Insurance Bureau of Canada When compared to how quickly it ...

“I feel like I should share my process of healing and hopefully it can help somebody else.” - Katie Potter __ A collection of writing, visual art and photography is rising from the ashes of Jasper’s devastating wildfire. To commemorate the one year anniversary of the fire, on July 25, the Jasper Art...

When normal forestry practices don’t cut it: With a light-on-the-land touch, specialized arborists are cleaning up Jasper’s burn debris It’s a widely-accepted mystery: whether or not a tree that falls in the forest makes a sound. But what about the riddle that Jasper National Park officials were fac...

Part 2: Home is where the hearth is In Part 1 of our Walking Through Fire series , we discussed how post-fire vegetation bounces back. But what about animals' attraction to fire? There is a small stampede of wild things drawn to fire’s heat and the blackened forests it leaves behind. Some pyro-lovin...

Part 1: Pioneer species on a fire-affected landscape Driving into the park a month after the 2024 Jasper Wildfire, we braced ourselves for a charred-earth landscape. Emotions of loss, devastation, and trepidation followed us in. So when we passed vibrant patches of green grasses springing from newly...

A wildfire 6 km west of Mercoal, Alberta, remains out of control. Alberta Wildfire firefighters, helicopters and heavy equipment continue to respond to wildfire EWF030, located 6 km west of Mercoal and 16 km southwest of Robb, AB. Alberta Wildfire firefighters, helicopters and heavy equipment contin...

A small (0.5 hectare) wildfire near Yellowhead Lake, just outside of Jasper National Park's west border with B.C., has been extinguished. At 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 24, 2025, Parks Canada provided support to the BC Wildfire Service in response to a wildfire just west of the park boundary, in the Yel...

"It's a really incredible time to visit Jasper, to bear witness to a large natural disaster and to see what it means for the ecology of the park and to understand it is part of the natural cycle of the ecosystem here in Jasper." Although the landscape may look different in Jasper National Park this ...

Jasperites encouraged to attend wildfire resilience event A live music event, a rally cry, a celebration of resilience, a reckoning. An artist’s statement on a changing climate, a gathering of community, an album release night, a fundraiser. Call it what you will, the upcoming Jam for Jasper will be...

Jasperites marched in solidarity against the lack of progress on interim housing January 24. Six months to the day after the homes of approximately 2,000 people living in Jasper burned in the largest wildfire ever recorded in Jasper National Park, hundreds of demonstrators showed their unity with di...

It’s been six months since Jasper was evacuated due to the threat of a massive wildfire roaring down the Athabasca Valley. On Friday, January 24, it will be exactly six months since thousands of Jasperites learned that their homes, businesses and everything in them burnt to the ground . And on Satur...

Parks Canada is stepping in to provide interim housing for Jasperites who lost their homes to wildfire. The federal agency will install two camp-style facilities with capacity for more than 200 people, according to Jasper National Park associate superintendent Ifan Thomas. “We’ve secured a camp that...

Municipal affairs critic says province is bullying Jasper into accepting their rebuild parameters  The Government of Alberta is ratcheting up the pressure on local planners in Jasper to sign off on leases where interim housing is slated to be built. But local authorities want clarity on what those b...