Crowsnest Pass flagged for added wildfire planning

Crowsnest Pass council heard March 10 that the community has been identified by Alberta as one of nine communities needing additional harvest planning and consultation under the province’s Community Hazardous Fuels Reduction program.

Louis Price, a senior forester with the Government of Alberta, told council the pro-gramme is aimed at reducing wildfire risk around vulnerable communities by targeting hazardous fuels on public land within five kilometres of townsites. Price says the pro-gramme operates only on public land, not inside community boundaries or on private land, and is intended to remove or manage hazardous trees near high-risk communities. The province’s public materials list Crowsnest Pass among nine communities requiring added planning because existing harvesting in the area is not enough to significantly lower wildfire risk. Alberta has also scheduled a public information session on the pro-gramme for March 19 at the Crowsnest Community Hall from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., with a presentation at 5:30 p.m.

Price said the work is being driven by broader wildfire trends and decades of fire suppression that have left forests older, denser and more vulnerable to severe fire behaviour.

“Fuel[s] are what we’re targeting,” he told council, saying weather and topography can not be changed but fuel loads can.

He said Crowsnest Pass had been identified as one of the more complex communities in the program because harvest planning already exists in the area, but more work is needed to meaningfully reduce risk.

Price said the aim is to slow wildfire spread in the broader two-to-five-kilometre zone around the community and reduce ignition exposure in the zone closer to town. He also said the plan is to work within existing forest management frameworks, shifting harvest activity closer to communities rather than increasing overall approved harvest levels.

The delegation drew immediate questions from council about how the work could affect Mount Tecumseh, local trails and nearby flood risk.

Councillor Dean Ward asked whether the area currently faced a mountain pine beetle problem. Price said it does not.

“Right now it’s considered endemic,” he said, crediting previous work by the municipality and provincial staff as well as cold weather for helping prevent a larger outbreak.

Ward also raised concerns he had heard from residents about planned logging near Mount Tecumseh and asked how close work would come to trail areas. Price said final plans had not yet been settled and said details on the harvest design would have to come from West Fraser.

He said the company was engaging stakeholders and making adjustments but added the final harvest plan had not yet been received at the government level.

Councillor Darren Nastasi followed with a concern heard repeatedly in the community, that removing trees could shift the problem from fire to flooding.

Price said forest planning standards do take flooding into account, particularly on steeper slopes, but again said he did not want to speak for West Fraser’s specific design choices.

Councillor Doreen Johnson asked how closely Alberta’s work is integrated with British Columbia, given Crowsnest Pass sits close to the provincial boundary and in what she described as a shared funnel.

Price said coordination is limited.

“That’s a good question,” he said. “Not a tremendous amount.”

He added that the lack of work on the B.C. side of the border was part of why the area had been flagged, saying the Deadman’s Pass area creates a potential funnel for wildfire movement.

The strongest pushback of the night came later during public input, when residents focused specifically on Mount Tecumseh and the recreational and environmental value of the area.

Jamie Lowe-Wylde told council he supports wildfire mitigation in principle but questioned whether the proposed harvest around Tecumseh had been strategically designed to provide meaningful long-term protection while balancing recreation, aesthetics and watershed health.

He said the mountain is one of the most accessible year-round recreation areas in the region and often offers the most reliable local snow conditions for skiing and snow-shoeing. Lowe-Wylde also said the forest plays an important role in snow retention, wind shelter and the visual identity of the Pass.

“Are we permanently altering one of the most visible and valuable forested landscapes for a short term wildfire benefit?” he asked.

Lowe-Wylde urged council to advocate to the province to ensure recreational, environmental and watershed values are meaningfully considered before harvesting begins, which he said is currently scheduled for August.

Henry Goodman, another resident, tied the discussion to his concerns over previous logging activity in East Hillcrest. He said rules around wildlife surveys, waterways and road cleanup need to be more clearly enforced and argued the municipality should en-sure such protections are reflected and upheld locally.

The delegation did not require a council decision that night, but it clearly set the stage for what is likely to become one of the more closely watched land use and wildfire issues in the community this year.