Thank you very much for having me here to speak about the experiences that I had prior to the fire.
I'd like to just note that I'm not here for political reasons. I'm here to provide information around the activities that occurred around the Jasper fire of July 22, 2024. I'd also like to note that my experience at that time was as a registered professional forester out of B.C. Currently, I am neither registered nor am I practising forestry. Also, I'd like to note that I'm neither a researcher nor a scientist. I was a registered professional forester, which is very different.
In relation to my work, I have 45 years of forest management experience. In relation to this beetle stuff and the fires, I have fire management experience in fighting fires, from spot fires up to project fires of 40,000 hectares or more. I was responsible for approving burning plans, approving ignition of those burning plans, and strategizing in the management of mountain pine beetles, including fall and burn and working with licensees in harvest strategies from baiting and logging to harvest strategies.
I'd like to note that the beetle population went from endemic to epidemic in a very short period of time. That was a result of warmer winters and an abundance of food supply.
I was involved in strategic planning and rehabilitation of mountain pine beetle fires. I worked with researchers to assess regeneration and cone viability after the beetle attacks, including secondary structure.
My related work is really diverse and includes silviculture, recreation, timber supply, planning and tenures. It goes on and on. We can get into a lot more detail if you so wish.
I looked at it and I have my own sense of what happened. I have an evaluation for you, from my perspective.
I found that Parks Canada staff were insufficiently trained in the situation of the beetles and the fire situation that existed in the park at the time. They are park rangers; they are not trained, experienced professional foresters.
The beetle program was a good start, but it was too little, too late. That was presented by Dr. Allan Carroll in a news article in Jasper. If they had looked at B.C., talked to the province and followed its recommendation in a timely manner, it would have potentially made a bit of a difference.
Nothing was done to address the landscape of the beetle-killed timber to prevent the megafire of July 22, 2024. What was done was insignificant and poorly thought out. It did nothing to protect the town from the Jasper fire complex. Even the work done would not be enough to stop a raging fire out of the west or the south in beetle stands. The town would have burned anyway.
The FireSmart program needs to be more than just cosmetic. If a community is serious about being fire-smart, then it should do more than a cosmetic approach of just removing a few trees or shrubbery.
There was communication with a fellow by the name of Rob Moore, who was an incident commander with 39 years of experience. His comment was that the fire complex was mismanaged in the first two days of the fire, from Monday, July 22, to Wednesday, July 24. He said that the fire complex was under-resourced and underestimated absolutely to the reality of fire science. That was a personal communication with Rob Moore.
Now, some of the recommendations I thought would be very beneficial are as follows.
Reform the Parks Canada structure and mandate.
Balance the value of social, economic and environmental issues when developing any type of strategy or plan. It cost almost a billion dollars in losses in Jasper—that's the latest estimate I've heard—not to mention the cost to the people who lost their homes, which resulted in stress, depression and potential suicides. Partial logging in mixed stands, with pruning and fuel management, costs about $500 a hectare. You can do about 10,000 hectares for about $5 million, so you can put some value there. The question I have is, where was the $80 million that was noted by the minister spent in relation to this fire?
Support those in the know—those who know the field and operations. Develop a plan that looks after the resources, with the communities as the primary objectives—so you can have a zonation—while addressing the balance of values to achieve ecological integrity. Have Parks Canada plans reviewed by professional foresters. The recommendation is to hire well-trained and experienced professionals familiar with the landscape in parks needing forest professional support.
Ensure that you have sufficient well-trained resources of staff and contractors, as well as equipment, to fight the fires. Don't depend upon provinces or others for their assistance, as they may be fighting their own battles.
Noting that there are two million hectares—