Parks Canada has burned about 150 hectares in the remote Dormer Valley of Banff National Park to improve year-round habitat for wildlife.
Officials say fire crews managed to get 150 hectares of grassland meadows burned on Saturday (Oct. 17), and hope to get the surrounding forest in the 6,800-ha burn unit burned later this fall or next spring.
“We were just targeting the grassland meadows within the burn unit,” said Jane Park, fire and vegetation specialist for Banff National Park.
“There is a lot more work to be done, but we need the forest to dry out a little more before we can go back in and burn the standing timber.”
The Dormer Valley prescribed fire, located 45 kilometres north of the Banff townsite, aims to restore open forest and grassland meadows by reducing encroachment of conifer species caused by decades of fire suppression in the national park.
Earlier this spring, Parks Canada burned about 300 hectares in the area, burning some meadows and setting up fireguards to secure the prescribed fire in advance of the bigger burn for the area.
These meadows provide critical year-round habitat for mountain sheep, goats, grizzly bears, wolves and elk.
Bison also stand to benefit from the burn.
Banff’s bison plan calls for reintroduction of 600 to 1,000 bison, but Parks Canada is starting with a five-year pilot project of 30 to 50 animals around the Panther and Dormer rivers on the east-central side of the park.
“In general, this fire is for wildlife habitat, but it will help the bison for sure,” said Park.
