Earlier this year, Jasper Local publisher Andrea Ziegler skied into a backcountry cabin with her husband and a group of friends. She was not expecting a close encounter with the furred kind. The incident After a fun day of skiing followed by an evening feast, a rowdy game of Liar’s Dice and some bev...

For 40 years, the province has put industry ahead of endangered species Is the Alberta government hell-bent on eliminating what remains of the two caribou herds that live in the mountains just north of Jasper National Park? Looking at the province’s recently released draft management plan for the Up...

Re: Alberta's cougar harvest policy doesn't track (Jasper Local, February 14, 2025). February 19, 2025 Dear Editor: As a retired community newspaper publisher, taking a compliment on a good piece or editorial is something that I used to shy away from. That said, Bradley and Covey deserve a tip-of-th...

Last week, while checking some of his trail cameras near Canmore’s Gap Lake, conservationist and wildlife photographer John E. Marriott came upon a cougar kill. Marriott thought it was his lucky day: a big horned sheep carcass meant the elusive cats were likely nearby, and paw prints surrounding the...

Dear Mr. Bradley, I read your response ( Wildlife responders program a poorly camouflaged grizzly hunt? ) to the announcement of the grizzly cull recently announced by Minister Loewen.  I live in a small village in huge Alberta and hunted for 30 years. Most of my hunting was in the local area but so...

The wolverine is a reclusive, mysterious animal that is rarely seen by humans. I t’s scientific name is Gulo gulo, which translates to ‘glutton’ or ‘I swallow. ' But what’s more gluttonous? The feeding habits of a reclusive wild animal, or the self-serving policy decisions of a populist government g...

Is Alberta’s Minister of Forestry and Parks camouflaging the hunting of “problem” grizzly bears as a wildlife safety measure? Back in June, Minister Todd Loewen, a renowned big game hunter and shareholder in a Valleyview-based outfitting business, signed a ministerial order that, to this retired bio...

Upheaval and change One of the most successful TV shows of the past several years has been Succession, a darkly funny drama about an exceptionally dysfunctional family of rich “one percenters” and their competition to succeed the ailing father as CEO of a huge corporation. In ecology, the word succe...

While some animals will die in a fire, most do not. To varying degrees, species have adapted to fires. Biologist and Jasper Local contributor Mark Bradley explains. The Power of the Burn I can’t help but get emotional when I see social media posts about Jasperites who have lost their homes, the hero...

A grizzly bear family relocated from the Jasper townsite area one year ago has come full circle. Parks Canada will be extending an area closure now that Grizzly Bear 222 and her cubs—who have become well-known to Jasper National Park officials, residents and visitors alike—are back in the Jasper tow...