Jasper wildfire: GPS collar reveals how bear and 2 cubs survived flames

As many people in the Jasper National Park townsite face a long road to recovery from a wildfire that burned through the community last week, park officials say wildlife populations in the area will also recover.

On Sunday night, officials released photos of one of the park’s grizzly bears and her two cubs. “Grizzly bear 222” has a GPS collar that allows park officials to track her movements and has helped them determine what she may have done to survive the blaze.

“In the moments leading up to the most extreme wildfire activity on Wednesday, … Grizzly bear 222 and her two cubs tucked themselves into a wet spot by the Athabasca River,” officials said in a series of posts on social media.” According to Parks Canada’s human wildlife specialists, she looks like a very healthy grizzly bear right now.

“She has been eating a mix of berries and clover on the edge of the Jasper Park Lodge golf course.”

A number of wildfires burning in the park triggered an evacuation order last week that saw an estimated 25,000 people flee the area before flames entered the Jasper townsite. Emergency officials believe about 30 per cent of the town has been damaged or destroyed.

But Alan Fehr, the superintendent of Jasper National Park, said Sunday that wildfire-impacted areas of the park’s natural landscape should recover relatively quickly.

“It will be full of vegetation and life and vibrancy in no time at all,” he said.

On their Sunday night social media posts, Parks Canada officials noted that in the face of wildfires, “the extraordinary instincts of wildlife, like bears and elk, guide them to safety.”

“Fire is a natural process and we expect animals to find new places to live,” said James McCormick, who specializes in looking at the co-existence