Revamping Alberta’s wildfire response: Forestry minister wants to see more aggressive mitigation

Alberta Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen speaks with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins about the provincial and federal governments' response to the recent Jasper wildfires.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length

 

Michael Higgins: What's been most eye opening about the dynamics that have played out around the destructive Jasper wildfire and what's been involved in taming that beast?

Todd Loewen: It took a lot of lot of equipment, a lot of manpower, to get that fire to the state it's at now, where the threat to the community is not imminent. It's still considered out of control so there's still work to be done on that fire. We do have a lot of men and equipment and personnel working on that. Just a lot going on. It's a it's a huge fire. There's a lot of perimeter to that fire and there's a lot of values at risk in the surrounding areas too that we want to make sure we protect.

MH: What does that say about the enormity of wildfire risk in key areas of the province, especially where pine beetle infestation has taken a toll?

TL: There's no doubt that the pine beetle situation has made things worse in some areas. In the rest of the province, we battled the pine beetle right from the start and then we had our forest companies harvest those dead trees out of the forest as much as we could, so that reduced some of that fuel load. The parks have a little bit different way of managing things and so there was probably more pine beetle trees there than in other parts of the province. But again, we do have to be cautious. We do know that we have communities at risk across the province when it comes to wildfire. We've had programs like the community fire and fire guard program that we announced. We're looking forward to seeing communities pick that up and getting to work on that. And then there's just a whole bunch of FireSmart activities that we need to do to our communities to help protect them.

MH: Given that risk, to what degree is the impact of climate change now playing into your government's discussions around wildfire risk and how you respond to it?

TL: When it comes to the wildfire risk, we look at the weather, we have our weather experts working in government, and over the past year we had a significant year for wildfire – a record year actually. And we're looking at the folks that are looking at the weather dynamics and everything. And last year we were in an El Nino situation, which leaves us hotter and drier than normal conditions. We're moving more into a La Nina situation now and our weather experts suggest that should leave us with more moisture and we definitely have seen more moisture this year. We've had a lot of wildfires this year but our preparation and the good work that the men and women within Alberta Wildfire have been doing has definitely helped reduce the amount of hectares burned and a lot of fires under control at this point.

MH: How concerned are you over potential wildfire risk to other communities in and around the mountains that may or may not be in national parks, communities like Canmore and Banff?

TL: Definitely a lot of concern in those areas there. We know that that forest has aged. When we look at, historically, what that valley looked like, it doesn't look anything like what it does today. That's because of the forest management practices and not having the fires on the landscape that traditionally there would have been. We know our First Nations people, they would burn a lot of the areas in Alberta just to increase habitat and to protect their ability to hunt and gather on the land, and that's been missing from the landscape. So we know we have a forest that's old, it's loaded with fuel, and again, we need to protect that. And I think we probably need to look at things a little differently going forward, as far as how we look at our forests and what we want to see on the landscape.

MH: What's your takeaway from how things worked out in coordinating and collaborating with the federal government in responding to the Jasper wildfire and does that dynamic change moving forward?

TL: I think that overall it's been good. When that fire broke out they definitely made the call to Alberta Wildfire and we provided every bit of equipment and personnel that they asked for. So there's been some good cooperation there. We look forward to that going into the future. Normally when we're dealing with different jurisdictions, we use an organization to be able to transfer resources back and forth, but we have a direct relationship with Parks Canada to be able to use their men and women and equipment when necessary, and they use ours when necessary, too. And so that communication, that ability to work back and forth, has been great.

MH: There's been significant analysis in the wake of the Slave Lake and the Fort McMurray wildfires. How do you see what's happening in Jasper now fitting into discussions around mitigation and plans moving forward?

TL: Jasper National Park has been talking about the mitigation efforts that they put in place leading up to this fire in the past years here and myself, I would like to see things maybe a little more aggressively when it comes to mitigation. We have to do our best to protect our communities. We know wildfire is on our landscape, we're not going to be able to stop wildfire from happening, but we have to be able to protect our communities. I think a lot of it goes back to having a more natural landscape, as opposed to what we have now. Again, we look at historic photos from the early 1900s and we look at the Bow Valley, we look at Jasper, and what it looks like now compared to what it looked like then is substantially different. Before, it had a lot more open grasslands and it was great for wildlife, more natural. Right now we have the forest encroachment into those areas. That's not natural to what has been on the landscape for thousands of years.

MH: If there's a takeaway from the Jasper fire and the experience of Jasper residents, what message would you extend to Albertans throughout the rest of the province on thinking ahead and being prepared?

TL: I think we have to be a little more open to looking at different ideas when it comes to how we manage the forest and what we want to see on the landscape. As a Albertan myself, and somebody that enjoys the outdoors and enjoys the forest, I enjoy looking out the window and seeing the forest right outside my home. But I think we have to start looking at things slightly differently and realize that in the past we've had a lot more open landscape, a lot less forest on the landscape, and not as thick because of the natural fires that were happening. We need to be able to open our minds and realize what's natural and what's not and I think what we're seeing now on the landscape really isn't natural.