Parks Canada preps southern Alberta projects to reduce wildfire risk

Parks Canada will begin work on a pair of projects this fall that are designed to reduce the risk of wildfires in Banff National Park.

Announcing the projects this week, the federal agency outlined the details behind the upcoming Lake Louise community fireguard and Tunnel Mountain fuel reduction projects.

The Lake Louise community fireguard is a continuation of more than a decade of wildfire mitigation work around the hamlet. The new guard, to the west of Lake Louise, uses mechanical tree removal across an area of roughly 165 hectares to create a large break in the landscape for crews to get in when working to stop a fire.

"Wind does blow in from the west, so the idea of having this fireguard directly adjacent to the community, but to the west, is to reduce the risk of wildfire coming into the community and damaging critical infrastructure, and allowing for the protection of our visitors," said Shelley Tamelin, wildfire risk reduction project manager for Parks Canada.

The fireguard will span from the south slope of Mount St. Piran behind the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise to the parking lot and ski runs of the Lake Louise Ski Hill on Whitehorn Mountain. Work on the project will begin as early as Nov. 15 and take two to three winters to complete, ending each year by March 31.

The project will be worked on throughout the winter so that the frozen ground and snowpack provides additional protection to the vegetation and soil.

The fireguard encroaches to within roughly 100 metres from the Fairmont Chateau's back door, and Tamelin said Parks Canada expects visitors in the area will be able to hear the work and see smoke from the project.

It's a project that Parks Canada has been preparing since 2018.

"You have all the environmental assessments, all the consultations that are necessary, also to get all the other fireguards and FireSmart that we've done in the field unit," Tamelin said.

"It's something that we've been planning for a long time, and it's just finally time this winter to start construction."

Regular seasonal access to Lake Louise and facilities will remain open throughout the project, but some trails may be affected. Parks Canada has said it will provide full project details in November on the fireguard before work begins.

The agency's other newly announced project, the Tunnel Mountain area fuel reduction, will involve further mechanical thinning in the area in Banff National Park to reduce fuel loading and create a more open forest.

The project's goal is to reduce the risk of wildfire in nearby communities like Banff, Canmore and Harvie Heights.

These aren't the only new potential fireguard projects in the region. Banff's town council is planning to apply with Parks Canada for the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta's community fireguard program.

The first phase of the program would involve assessing and planning where a fireguard could go, and if that's successful, then a second phase would create the fireguard.

Also in the area, Canmore released a plan in August for the Bow Valley community fireguard, which would run from the Banff east park gate to Dead Man's Flats.