Haze filled the air Wednesday across Southern Alberta, as flames ignited over 1200 hectares at Waterton National Park. The prescribed burn was done in an area called the “Y-Camp” to reduce the aspen and evergreen tree expansion into the grasslands.
“What we’re doing now is we’re putting fire back on the landscape to create that patchwork in the forest, to reduce the size of the imprint of the forest and allow the fescue grassland to expand to its historic range,” said Resource Conservation Manager Dennis Madsen.
A prescribed burn requires extensive planning and precision in its execution. The crew has to wait for the right time of year, often in the spring, while the grasslands are still dormant. Then, they have to pick a day where weather conditions are ideal, allowing them to start the burn.
Day one begins with torches near the roadway, before moving onto Ariel ignition – a process in which ping pong balls filled with combustible chemicals are dropped from a helicopter. The goal is not to scorch the area to the ground, but to have different levels of burn throughout the area.
“If you were to fly over the burn area, you would see that patchwork on the landscape. So it takes several burns to slowly change the landscape from a forested landscape, back to a grassland,” said Incident Coordinator Rick Cubian
Park officials expect the burn to be completed by Thursday morning.
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