Editor:
The following is a letter to Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards and Yellowhead MP Gerald Soroka.
After the devastating wildfires in Jasper National Park and the incredible damage to the Jasper townsite, I hope our eyes are now wide open to the risks of wildfires to ravage townsites within or near national and provincial park boundaries.
However, to many, and I’m sure including yourselves, this wildfire was no surprise, there had been many raising alarm bells, including appeals in the House of Commons going back as far as 2017. We also can point to the devastation in Waterton and Kootenay national parks as examples of poor forestry management practices in our national parks destroying historic lands and property.
And yet, the federal government has largely sat on its hands. We have enough evidence that the same risks exist in the Bow Valley. You are our Members of Parliament in the Rocky Mountains and I would like to understand what actions are being taken to force the government’s hand to act on the threat here.
We owe it to Jasperites and also to your constituents in the Bow Valley and Jasper area to be sounding the alarm bells to put in place immediate and extensive remediation actions to address this risk. The financial implications of addressing the risk in advance will pail in comparison should a large wildfire rip through the valley, let alone the risk to life.
The Town of Canmore has reasonable plans for managing wildfires within the townsite with firesmart projects throughout. However, it will make no difference should something like the wildfire in Jasper get ignited in the Bow Valley.
I sincerely hope you are taking this issue seriously, but I have seen no public statements at this stage through my online searches. We know that the Liberal government will not act unless the public outcry is loud enough, and with the Jasper tragedies fresh in everyone’s minds, the government may be motivated or compelled to do something.
My heart goes out to the people of Jasper. It is heart-wrenching. But, we need to press hard to not repeat history here, we need to learn from this tragedy and stop sticking our heads in the sand to the risks.
Bruce Eidsvik,
Canmore
