Parks Canada on Thursday said it will not disclose details of its forest management prior to the July 24 wildfire that burned through Jasper until nearly a year after the fact. Managers four years ago warned of “dead trees and the fuel load” at Jasper National Park that could spark wildfires, per Blacklock’s Reporter. The agency said it is withholding until May 2, 2025 all information on the acreage of dead pine left standing as a fire hazard at Jasper. Blacklock’s requested the number of hectares of dead pine left in Jasper National Park to 2023, and the number cleared through cutting or controlled burns since 2020. “Assigning employees to retrieve records at this time would disrupt the institution’s fire management and recovery priorities,” Parks Canada said in a statement. The agency granted itself a 240-day delay to respond, citing “emergency response efforts.”A third of Jasper burned in the wildfire. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told reporters July 29 it was “simply not true” that Parks Canada mismanaged fire preparedness.However, documents tabled with parliament show managers from 2015 halved the number of controlled burns needed to create firebreaks. One Parks Canada executive in 2020 testimony at the Commons Environment Committee said she was concerned by thousands of hectares of dead trees left at Jasper following a pine beetle infestation.“Obviously one of the big concerns is the dead trees and the fuel load,” testified Darlene Upton, vice-president of Parks Canada. “We are ramping up our efforts.”“Is there any sense of urgency?” asked Conservative MP Dan Mazier.“We have developed with partners a specific management plan in that particular area,” replied Vice-President Upton. She did not elaborate.“Are there deadlines?” asked Mazier.“They are defined by the funding we have available in part,” replied Upton.Blacklock’s requested figures on how much money Parks Canada budgeted for fire preparedness and forest management at Jasper in the five years prior to the July 24 wildfire. This data, too was withheld until 2025.“The fact is Parks Canada and our partners have done everything we reasonably could have done to reduce fire risk over many years and to be prepared for what may come,” Ron Hallman, CEO of Parks Canada, told reporters July 29. “Obviously we are all devastated that the fire breached the town despite best efforts.”Hallman said the agency cleared “thousands of hectares” of dead pine deemed a fire risk. He did not say how many thousands. “The simple fact is sometimes there are no tools or resources capable of overcoming a wildfire,” he said.
