Mark Hall’s reaction to my article on the newly legalized practice of hunting bears with dogs started with the statement that it ‘relies on emotional rhetoric, selective science, and mischaracterizations that deserve clarification’. I would like to address each of his criticisms in turn. Mark Hall: ...

The recent opinion piece published in The Jasper Local raises concerns about the ethics, effectiveness, and motivations behind Alberta’s decision to permit hound-assisted black bear hunting in Caribou Conservation Areas (CCAs).  While the author’s passion for wildlife is commendable, the article unf...

In July, Todd Loewen, the Minister for Alberta’s Forestry and Parks, quietly updated provincial regulations to allow the use of dogs while hunting black bears. His rationale? To help protect endangered woodland caribou populations, because black bears prey on newborn caribou calves. Hunter gatherer ...

Even though the summer sun was sweltering, the mother grizzly kept up the search. Eventually, she poked her nose into the ground and started digging. Within minutes, her head and shoulders had vanished underground, and before long she re-emerged with a wriggling prize in her jaws: a Columbian ground...

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...

Dry grass crunched underfoot as the old grizzly searched for food. Her nostrils flared and her nose twitched as she tested her surroundings for anything out of the ordinary.  It was hot and dry. It was July, 2024. Bear 222, JNP's most thoroughly-documented grizzly. // Mark Bradley - Boreal Nature Ph...

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...

This is the time of year when competition is on everyone’s mind. The NHL and NBA playoffs have just ended, the 2024 Euros are underway and the Paris Olympics are just around the corner. Everywhere you look, people are straining and sweating to reach the podium or lift the cup (sadly, my Toronto Rapt...

Jasper National Park wildlife officials have increased the urgency of their bear management strategy after a family of grizzlies swam into another popular Maligne Lake campground last weekend. On June 16, nine days after sniffing around Coronet Creek campsite on the south end of Maligne Lake, three ...

Canoe-accessed facilities on Maligne Lake are open again after a camper’s close encounter with a grizzly bear family precipitated two campground evacuations and subsequent closures. Last Friday, June 7, a camper at Coronet Creek campsite , a backcountry tent site on the south end of Jasper National ...

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...