As Canadians watch in horror at the tens of thousands of California homes being consumed by out-of-control wildfires, construction of a new fire guard in Alberta’s Bow River Valley is underway in an attempt to protect the town of Canmore and other municipalities from a future fire.
“Wildfire remains the top rated hazard to life, property and critical infrastructure within and around the Bow Valley,” said Canmore Mayor Sean Krausert, as he joined Alberta Forestry Minister Todd Loewen, and other politicians to provide an update on construction of the new community fire guard.
Approximately 200 hectares (495 acres) of forest, mostly comprised of mature trees, is being harvested in the areas around Stone Works Creek, Harvie Heights and the East Park gates, on the south side of Highway 1, west of the Canmore.
Another 116 hectares of forest will be thinned out.
“Decades of fire suppression left our forests aging and vulnerable,” said Loewen.
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“Wildfires can spread much more quickly and intensely when there’s a buildup of combustible materials that can easily ignite when the wildfire risk is high.”
Last summer’s devastating wildfire that destroyed an estimated third of the town of Jasper is adding urgency to construction of the project that began in the fall of 2024.
“What we have, what we have grown to see as ‘natural landscape’ in the Bow Valley — an abundance of mature trees and decadent forests — is not a natural landscape at all.”
“Decades of wildfire suppression has resulted in a human-made environment that poses a great threat to Canmore and the surrounding communities,” said Krausert.
He says harvesting of the mature timber will also mimic many of the positive impacts that a naturally wildfire would have, like opening up the forest canopy and increasing forage for species like deer, elk and bears.
The plan also calls for buffer zones like wetlands and nesting areas to be left around sensitive wildlife habitat.
“For example, the survey identified several potential pileated woodpecker nests on the edge of the fire guard area,” added Krausert. “These will not be removed.”
Construction of the fire guard, a joint project by the Town of Canmore, Municipal District of Bighorn and the Kananaskis Improvement District, will take three to five years to complete.
While the final cost hasn’t been announced it is being partially subsidized by revenue from the timber that’s being harvested.
The Alberta government said emergency fireguards have also been constructed in Grande Prairie, Buck Creek, Dimsdale, Lac Ste. Anne, Valleyview, Gift Lake and Fox Creek, while construction of a fire guard in Whitecourt continues.
“When we look at the communities that have been burnt in the past — we look at Slave Lake, we look at Fort McMurray, we look at Jasper — those were huge fires that came in quick and were very strong,” said Loewen.
“We want to make sure that we have fire guards that are that are up to the task to be able to drive those fires to the ground so that they can be battled on the ground.”
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