Reflecting on the 2017 Kenow Wildfire
Waterton fires wiped out 38,000 hectares of land, but park is now healing
WATERTON LAKES NATIONAL PARK —
The Kenow Wildfire swept through the forests faster than a man can run.
Even bears, deer and elk — experts at running through the woods — were overtaken by the huge fire that ripped through this beautiful wilderness park on the Alberta-Montana border two years ago this week.
More than 40 large carcasses were found in the park when the fire died out on its own after destroying 19,303 hectares of forests and mountain meadows, plus the visitors centre, riding stables, a buffalo compound and staff houses for Parks Canada employees.
In total, the fire consumed 38,000 hectares in British Columbia and Alberta.
And it came within the length of a football field of destroying the majestic Prince of Wales Hotel. The 92-year-old hotel, made totally of wood, is a national historic site.
It stands on the edge of the hamlet of Waterton, the only community in, the park, perched on a hill looking down the 11-kilometre-long Upper Waterton Lake.
Fifty firefighters from Calgary — 270 kilometres to the north — drove aerial fire trucks south to the park and spent 31 hours up on the wooden roof and balconies of the iconic hotel snuffing out glowing embers dropping down from flaming trees surrounding the hamlet and 100 metres from the hotel.
Professional municipal firefighters from Lethbridge, Coaldale, Tabor and Cardston came to the park to build a firebreak around the hamlet and install an above-ground watering system so sprinklers could spray private cottages and commercial properties in the community, which has a population of 2,500 in summer and 600 in winter. The hamlet was evacuated for two weeks.
Fire damaged 80 per cent of the hiking trails in the park and closed several scenic paved roads because the mountain slopes are unstable without tree coverage.
However, the park is making a comeback. Wild flowers in the blacked meadows were plentiful and beautiful earlier this summer because there's less canopy to shade them.
Animals and birds that fled the park ahead of the fire are now drifting back, attracted by the new growth of grasses, leaves, trees and berries. Overnight visitors are again be warned to keep an eye out for bears if they go out for an evening stroll.
Red Rock Parkway is still closed to vehicular traffic, but open to hikers and bikers, particularly e-bikes that can travel up to 90 kilometres on a charge. Red Rock Parkway gets its name honestly. It climbs through a canyon of red-coloured rocks and leads to various hiking trails.
A15-head buffalo herd lives in a compound in Waterton National Park and they were moved out of harm’s way in a truck convoy to Montana. They won’t be back in Canada until the grass has fully regenerated in their rebuilt buffalo compound.
The big bull in the buffalo herd refused to co-operate and get on a truck. Nobody wanted to argue with him, so he sat out the fire in a pond in the compound and suffered no ill effects.
Locke Marshall, the visitor experience manager at Waterton National Park, said buffalo herds have a traditional way of dealing with encroaching prairie fires — they run through them to the other side of the fire front.
Waterton, named after a famous conservationist in western Canada, was established as a national park in 1896 and is the fourth oldest among Canada’s 38 national parks. It is also the world’s first international park.
The U. S-Canada border cuts across the middle of Upper Waterton Lake and the south end of the lake abuts Glacier National Park in Montana.
The two parks combined to create an international wilderness park in 1932. Parks Canada’s professional forest fire teams fought a large fire in Glacier National Park last year.
The best way to experience both parks is to sail the lake aboard 92-year-old M.V. International, a wooden-hulled cruise vessel that was built at the lake’s south end in Montana, but operates from the hamlet of Waterton. The International is Canada’s oldest wooden-hulled passenger vessel in continuous operation.
Upper Waterton Lake is 487 feet deep, one of Canada’s deepest lakes and is renown for its sport fishing. Pat Brennan was a guest of Travel Alberta, which did not review or approve this story.