Natural Resources committee  That's going to vary across the landscape in different places, so I can't be very specific. As you can imagine, there would be large areas in Jasper National Park that are not necessarily road accessible, but we have our own helicopter contracts and things like that in order to m

Natural Resources committee  I can speak to P.E.I. in the past on the mechanical harvesting. There are partnerships at times. There will be partnerships with the mechanical harvesting that's going to happen in Jasper. I can't speak to how we're doing it specifically, but the logs that are removed will be sol

Natural Resources committee  That's correct.

Natural Resources committee  That is, in fact, really what we are doing in several instances. A large part of our program is managing the impact of the deadfall and the forest fire challenges that come with that. Where we are doing mechanical removals, single treatments or even using prescribed burns is in l

Natural Resources committee  That exists. In the case of the mountain pine beetle, for example, there was a working group established in 2015 with Parks Canada, Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Forest Service, and the Government of Alberta. That would be the landowners as well as the expertise in the m

Natural Resources committee  We have planted 4,000 to date, and there will be more plantings this fall in the Jasper area specifically for that species.

Natural Resources committee  That's correct. That's my understanding as well.

Natural Resources committee  What I will say is that we have a very strong.... On average, we're investing about $7 million a year in forest fire management. When we have a high fire year, a lot more resources come into the agency, but within that budget we have prescribed fire burns for the agency across th

Natural Resources committee  I would say that it was based on the policy statements that were made, with targeted and specific actions identifying which types of treatments would be used, but still fundamentally respecting the policy statements within the agency.

Natural Resources committee  We spent, just in 2016 and 2017, about $1.8 million on a variety of fire- and forest-related activities, which included a number of actions specific to the mountain pine beetle. So that was spent, and a number of prescribed burns were targeted. As well, this winter there will b

Natural Resources committee  It is a naturally occurring species, so the plan and the hope is to return the ecological integrity of the park. That includes the presence of this species but in numbers that don't jeopardize the ecological integrity, public safety and other interests. It's not full eradication.

Natural Resources committee  That continues to happen in a number of areas around the park. Parks Canada implements the “fire safe” program and is really coordinated with provincial governments and internationally, particularly with the U.S., in terms of using the best science for fire practices. Fire-smarti

Natural Resources committee  No, I know.

Natural Resources committee  It's the whitebark pine.

Natural Resources committee  In the case of that species, which is an endangered species, some active treatments are being done to limit the impact of the pine beetle, as well as a restoration program and a planning program specifically for that species. Nursery-grown plants are being grown that can then be