Biodiversity Hotspots: Jasper National Park, Canada

1. Name of Forest: Jasper National Park

2. Name of Area: Jasper National Park, Jasper Township

3. Size of Area: 11,228 km²

4. Key drivers of deforestation: 

• Logging
  • The area was extensively logged prior to becoming a park. For example, logging in the 1920s provided railway ties for the railroad, which resulted in at least 300,000 ties being logged from the Whirlpool River valley, as documented by Bob Udell and Peter Murphy of the Foothills Research Institute (FRI) in several reports. The FRI monitors the biodiversity of park wildlife such as grizzly bears,caribou, moose, and pine marten.
  • The FRI has issued many reports, focusing especially on the “Hinton Forest”. This is essentially most of the forested land east of the park, where the province has promoted extensive logging. Many FRI researchers were cross-appointed from logging companies. This conflict of interest has been “balanced” by Alberta’s assignment of forest leases “in perpetuity” so long as there is “perpetual forest management” – defined as harvesting the same volume of wood each year in perpetuity. This means the companies have planned and invested in managing cuts to maintain long-term forest productivity. A pulp and paper mill and sawmill in Hinton Alberta on the Athabasca river is fed from the managed forests. These mill facilities have been expanded several times over the last 70 years, raising the question of whether the yield from the forest is still able to keep the mill running economically.
  • The management practices in the Hinton Forest and the research by FRI, while outside the park, are very relevant to park biodiversity. First, the Hinton forest and the park have a long unfenced boundary over which wild animals move freely, so the Hinton forest and the Jasper National Forest are essentially one pool of wildlife. Second, the park signed agreements with the FRI for FRI research to include park forests many years ago, so much of the park forest management expertise comes from FRI and the Hinton Forest operations.
  • An extensive, 748 page review by FRI staff looks at this history from 1955 to 2000. It speaks to the effort by FRI and wood company staff to develop better management plans for perpetual forest management. It asserts that the forests are in better shape ecologically in 2000 than before 1955. However, some contradictions are visible. On page 297 they state
    • Historically, most of the ‘natural’ forest landscape was covered by young forest due to active fires. Mature and old trees were, and always have been, in the minority. There were times historically when virtually no old-growth existed on vast landscapes, and what little did persist was in small isolated patches. 
  • But on pages 102-103 they note that bulldozing of natural organic “duff” after tree cutting had to be introduced because of
    • the very moist, deep duff, up to 24 inches in depth, which had built up in the old “Climax” spruce-fir stands of high elevations. The furrows made by the scarification ploughs frequently didn’t penetrate the heavy slash and duff to reach mineral soil and where this was accomplished
  • This suggests old climax forests were present recently at higher elevations. The Higgs et al report (below) notes that many park lowland forests grew in the aftermath of major fires in 1758, 1847, and and would have contained a patchwork of older and younger trees. Further, reports of extensive 19th century logging of “towering” Rocky Mountain Douglas Firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca) at higher elevations in the park in 1817-1845 suggest old growth was more common than the RFI report states. Mountain Douglas firs reach a height of up 45m and can grow to 65 m. They live from 500 to occasionally more than 1,200 years. The degraded lack of old growth stands reported by RFI is more likely a result of uncontrolled 19th century logging and poor forest management in the 20th century. Giesen et al 2008 found that deep duff accumulations in Pacific Douglas fir forests meant no strong fire had occurred in the last 50-100 years. Arno 2000 looked at fires in western forests and said fires in Douglas Fir stands recur every 25-200 years – but older trees have thick bark that allows them to withstand most fires. 
  • Due to bad decisions about protecting the park’s forests from fires, the pine forests in Jasper park had built up in density to the point where they were widely recognized to be in danger of massive fires. Then, climate warming allowed the spread of the Mountain Pine Beetle into the park’s forests. Beetles killed many trees, which became even greater fire hazards. Parks Canada let contracts around 2018 to commercial firms to log areas of the forest to reduce fire hazard and “restore ecological integrity”. The process is discussed in detail in this hour long podcast. 
  • The timber firms were allowed to sell the logged trees to “cover their costs”. This represents a return of commercial logging to the park after an absence of perhaps 80 years.
  • In spite of these efforts, in July 2024 lightning and strong winds started a massive fire in the park resulting in the evacuation of 20,000 people for a month, burned 33,131 ha of the park, closed highways, and resulted in C$880,000,000 of estimated insured damage. Uninsured damage is not publicised. (Video from CBC)
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• This CBC article summarizes the history of forest management in the park along with historical and present day photos.
• Remaining forest areas near Jasper are now being logged and bulldozed – see “Poor Forest Management”, below, for more on this.

• Mining
  • Several open pit coal mines are on the east flank of the Rocky Mountains, east of Jasper Park. One large one is in the middle of the Hinton Forest. No mining is permitted presently in the park, but the coal mined is sent by rail to ports in British Columbia for shipment to Asia. The effect of this is to increase rail traffic through Jasper Park with attendant risks of air pollution from diesel engines in narrow mountain valleys and track-side fires initiated by sparks from wheels and brakes. The province of Alberta has approved the expansion of several eastern front coal mines.
• Rail, road, and pipeline corridors
  • Highways 16 and 93 traverse the park.Parks Canada has open gravel pits such as the Marmot Pit in forested areas near the Athabaska River and is expanding them to service increased tourist and industrial traffic.
  • The Canadian National Railway ships coal from the Eastern Front (see Mining, above) along the Athabaska River into Jasper Park, then via two lines. The line to Fort George runs north through the park along the Fiddle River, and the line to Kamloops runs south through the park along the Athabaska river. Numerous past fires were associated with the rail lines.
  • The TransMountain Pipeline runs three pipes through the park, all close to rivers and river plains. The Canada Energy Regulator lists 1,872 spill incidents in the Alberta portion of the pipeline. It’s not clear how many are in the park, but about half of the pipeline length in Alberta is in Jasper park. Transmountain employees have misrepresented the number of spills in the park.
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  • Transmountain pipeline in Jasper Park, CC by SA 2.0 Adam Jones 

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• Pipeline segments at boundary between Jasper National Park and Mount Robson Park

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• pipeline adjacent to Jasper forest

• Tourism development
  • Increasing the density of buildings in the town of Jasper and elsewhere in the park has been identified for over 20 years (Higgs et al) as adding to risks to the ecosystem, but Parks Canada approved increased development on many occasions, including a 144 unit apartment complex in 2021, and in 2018 for a new large hostel. In 2022 the town of Jasper asked to increase the amount of commercial development in the town beyond the Parks Canada limit. In Parks Canada’s 2023 Jasper report, they note they approved permits for 46 new housing units.
  • However, to its credit in 2014 the Park refused to permit the creation of a new tourist complex on Maligne Lake.
  • A blogger attributed much neglect of ecological integrity in the park to an emphasis on increasing tourism revenues during the period of the Conservative federal government from 2006-2015. He said “Parks Canada allowed skywalks, via ferratas, summer ski hill operations, and gondola expansions”. A 2016 report says “Canada’s National Parks Are Being Turned Into Theme Parks” and cites the 2012 permission by Parks Canada of the construction of the “Glacier Skywalk” which turned a previously free public view into a private pay-per-use “attraction”. The original detaled report is here.

• Poor forest management
  • Parks Canada has managed Jasper forests for almost 100 years. 
  • They now have a program of extensive logging around the town of Jasper to create fire breaks to protect the town tourism infrastructure. The aerial image below shows part of this area (Google Earth): 
  • and the next image is from Parks Canada showing areas of past (yellow) and present land clearance: 

• some of these areas are closed to the public while tree cutting and log hauling proceeds:
• Establishing an ecologically sound fire plan was suggested in a 1998 report over 25 years ago, titled “Aspen, elk, and fire in the Rocky Mountain national parks of North America”. The authors took a sophisticated ecological view of these areas and highlighted mistakes that had been made in park management. They said “Our recommendations to national park managers are to restore carnivores, use fire in areas of low elk density, and control human uses that displace carnivores.” Wolves (the main carnivores) had been driven out of areas, allowing large elk population growth. The elk browsed aspen trees to death, and the lack of burns prevented aspen regeneration. This was a good example of maintaining biodiversity by maintaining multiple levels of the ecosystem which affect forest integrity. They focus on aspen “Because aspen stands occupy moist, nutrient-rich sites at low elevations, they have very high biodiversity. exceeded only by riparian zones in the Rocky Mountains. Holroyd and Van Tighem (1983) rated montane aspen vegetation types in Canada as high- quality habitat for large mammals such as elk (Cervus elaphus), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), white- tailed deer (0. virginianus), moose (Alces alces), and a diverse range of small mammal species. Bird diversity is also greater in aspen stands than nearby conifer forests or grasslands (Flack 1976, Turchi et al. 1995).”
• A thorough report (Higgs et al 1999) titled “Culture, Ecology, and Restoration in Jasper National Park” by researchers from the University of Alberta looked deeply into the park’s history, changes, and what should be done. I quote one section: “One hundred years ago, in 1899, […] what would we have seen? Instead of a dense thicket of aspens, spruce, and fir, […] a few monumental Douglas Firs would be visible,and probably some standing dead trees waiting for the next major windstorm to bring them closer to rest. Fires had raced through the area a decade earlier”. They go on to quote the description Ross Cox gave of the area in 1817, emphasizing the openness of the views. They emphasize the influence of the fur traders, who used the Athabaska valley as a route to the west coast. Traders needed horses to help haul loads, so Jasper became a major horse pasturing and breeding area. Horse farmers noted the wide expanses of prairie in the park, now occupied by (burnable) forest.Métis fur traders settled after the collapse of the trade and began market farming in the valley. Higgs et al. note that most of the forests in Jasper’s river valleys originated after major fires in 1758, 1847, and 1889. 
• The Higgs et al. report used a cache of survey photographs taken in 1915 to establish land use patterns midway between fur traders and the present. This showed that decreased fire activity in the Bow River valley area has reduced shrub and aspen stands – “one third of the vegetation types may be entirely lost from the landscape, with the result of a significant loss of biodiversity”.
• The Higgs report also characterizes the state of attitudes and knowledge of park managers in the mid 1990s. Younger managers had heard of ecosystem management but were resisted by older, more senior managers when changes were proposed. The report describes the introduction of “ecological restoration” ideas which involves bringing back “ecological integrity”, including “a critical range of variability of biodiversity”.
•  In 2006 450 ha were logged to reduce fire hazards with the logs being sold.
• In 2017 experienced forest managers prepared a report for the park warning of explosive fire hazards, which was ignored:“What I saw was a fire that was going to blow up and it was going to be like an atomic bomb,” Hodges said. Their report was not received well by officials, Hodges said. “We were told that we were just scaring the public.”
• A 2017 Species At Risk Action Plan for Jasper Park states “Whitebark pine is also vulnerable to forest ingrowth by other tree species, particularly where natural fire cycles have been disrupted through fire suppression. Climate change may also contribute to greater risk of mountain pine beetle-caused mortality of whitebark pine and increased competition with other plant species. Restoring natural fire cycles on the landscape is an important strategy for ensuring the persistence of high quality whitebark pine habitat. Reducing forest ingrowth by restoring fire may also benefit common nighthawk, as this species nests on the ground in open forest and grassland habitat. Additionally, carrying out prescribed burns in mature conifer stands near bogs and meadows to create a mosaic of live and dead trees near water and open areas may favour Olive-sided Flycatcher.”  These recommendations were good but were not acted upon.
• Only recently have planned burns been reintroduced. A former Deputy Minister of the Alberta government noted that 25 years ago Parks Canada policy was focused on maximizing green forest area without regard to fire risks. 
• In contrast to this, the current Premier of Alberta suggested taking over the park and introducing cattle grazing and logging to reduce fire.

5. Key companies involved:

• Parks Canada (Federal)
• Coalspur Mines (Vista Coal Strip Mine)
• West Fraser (Hinton Forest)
• Federal Govt (TransMountain Pipeline) – Trans Mountain Corporation
• Canadian National Railway

6. Key government agencies involved:

• Parks Canada (Federal)
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• Alberta Energy & Natural Resources

7. Nature of biodiversity in the area:

The park includes ecozones including the Montane Forest, the Subalpine area, and alpine meadows.  It has some of the“ highest mountains of North America and some of the continent’s most diverse mosaics of ecosystem types, ranging from alpine tundra to dense conifer forests to dry sagebrush and grasslands.” [Commission for the Environment]. Montane, alpine, and subalpine ecozones support a variety of forest types and species. At the lower elevations in the Athabaska River basin, wet boreal zones can be found with dry grassland areas just uphill. 

The species in the park have changed over centuries due to climate change, human action, and ecological imbalances caused by fire suppression and logging. A delightful (for plant lovers) summary of the plants of the region during 1945-1959 is by the Greenland-Canadian arctic biologist Alf Erling Porsild, titled “Botanical Excursion to Jasper and Banff National Parks, Alberta: alpine and subalpine flora”. It was published by the National Museum of Canada. Porsild had been studying northern life forms from Greenland in his youth to Alaska and the NorthWest Territories, to the Rocky Mountains. His brief book gives a very complete summary of forest and alpine plants he found in Jasper, giving us a wonderful baseline to look at biodiversity changes since. He was very aware of the many soil types produced by the various rock types in the Rockies and by glacial action, so he was able to document rare occurrences of boreal forest trees (Black Spruce) that normally only grow on acid soils; but grow in some areas with limey soils. Porsild notes the absence of Douglas Firs, which had previously been abundant but were logged out. They have been replaced (in 1959) by lodgepole pines, which then burned in 2024.

Parks like Jasper are critical reserves for northern biodiversity. Animals native to highland Great Plains such as bison (buffalo) and those native to boreal forest such as woodland caribou are found. Top predators like wolverines, grizzly bear, wolves, and mountain lions live here. They are threatened by hunting outside the parks. Their exceptionally important role in maintaining ecosystem integrity and biodiversity have been known since the time of Aldo Leopold. 

8. What can be done to stop deforestation and habitat destruction.

Numerous reports since the 1990s have recommended the following actions:

1. Remove the wholesale fire suppression program.
2. Implement controlled burns and other ways of reducing large blocks of lodgepole pines.
3. Especially, increase burns to regenerate old aspen areas in the Montane zone.
4. Balance wolf and elk populations to reduce elk grazing of young aspens and other regenerating vegetation.
5. Plan for climate warming to provide corridors for species migration to higher elevations or further north.
6. Reduce and strongly monitor human development in the town of Jasper and along highways, rail lines, power lines, and oil/dilbit/gas pipelines.
7. Provide an independent and perpetual (i.e. adjusted annually for inflation) budget for an organization independent of regular Parks Canada hierarchies. This organization should be charged as its main responsibility with maintaining and increasing Jasper Park biodiversity and ecological integrity. It should have an independent veto power on development plans which compromise its main responsibility. It should not be responsible for promoting tourism in the park. Its members should have regular performance reviews by managers within its own ranks, and senior members should have job security equal to the most tenure policies at major Canadian universities. It should issue an annual report with a simplified scorecard which is not edited by Parks Canada personnel outside its ranks and is online and publicly accessible. It should maintain a qualitative and quantitative online publicly accessible inventory of biodiversity information, including but not limited to species presence/absence and where possible species numbers, especially for keystone species. It should have the right to apply for funding beyond its perpetual budget from academic, educational, conservation, and commercial funders, so long as these applications are fully online and publicaly accessible. It should work with Indigenous groups to incorporate their knowledge and expertise in its programs and should have a budget within the perpetual budget for employing Indigenous persons.

9. Map of the area

10. Authors

• Dr. Clement Kent, clementfkent@gmail.com, Green Party of Canada
• review: Alison Lam, Green Party of Canada