Near Sawback in Banff National Park, Alberta — Canada’s Prairie Region (North America)
Prescribed Burn
1993
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Brûlage dirigé
1993
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 4, 2022
1. Prescribed Burn / Brûlage dirigé Marker
Prescription for a Forest
Park wardens use fire to restore ecosystems and reduce the chances of severe, damaging wildfires. Before a prescribed burn is ignited, as this one was in 1993, a stringent assessment of the forest is made to determine:
Does fire belong here?
Fires have shaped this landscape for thousands of years. Until modern fire prevention in the 20th century the average interval between fires in the lower Bow Valley was 30-50 years. Most trees here, such as lodgepole pine and aspen, need a fire to rejuvenate their stands.
Can it burn safely?
A thorough understanding of how fire behaves in these mountains is essential. So are the right weather conditions.
Will it burn?
The challenge is to find a time when all the above conditions are met, and the forest is not too wet to burn effectively. Some years that window of opportunity opens for only a few days in spring and fall — or not at all.
Un feu régénérateur
Les gardes de parc se servent du feu pour rétablir les écosystèmes et pour réduire le risque que ne se déclarent des feux échappés importants et dévastateurs. Avant de procéder à un brûlage
this page online
Le feu a-t-il sa place ici?
Les feux façonnent ce paysage depuis des millénaires. Avant que l'homme moderne ne s'adonne à la prévention des feux au XXe siècle, l'intervalle moyen entre les incendies dans la vallée de la Bow inférieure oscillait entre 30 et 50 ans. La plupart des arbres qui poussent ici, comme le pin tordu et le peuplier faux-tremble, ont besoin du feu pour régénérer leurs peuplements.
Le feu peut-il brûler sans danger?
Il est primordial de bien comprendre le comportement du feu dans ces montagnes. Et les conditions climatiques doivent être propices.
Le feu brûlera-t-il?
Le défi consiste à trouver un moment où toutes les conditions précédentes sont réunies, et que la forêt n'est pas trop humide afin que le feu puisse jouer son rôle. Certaines années, la période propice ne dure que quelques jours, au printemps et à l'automne — et parfois elle ne vient même pas du tout.
Erected by Parks Canada / Parcs Canada.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Horticulture & Forestry
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 4, 2022
2. Prescribed Burn / Brûlage dirigé Marker
Looking north from Bow Valley Parkway.
Location. 51° 11.577′ N, 115° 44.233′ W. Marker is near Sawback, Alberta, in Banff National Park. It is on Bow Valley Parkway (Provincial Highway 1A) 16 kilometers east of Banff-Windermere Highway (Provincial Highway 93), on the left when traveling east. The marker is beside a pull-out on the north side of Bow Valley Parkway. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Sawback AB T0L 1E0, Canada. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Canadian Rockies. It is also in the Prairies. Globally, it is in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once a British colony and also Rupert’s Land.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 11 kilometers of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Flames of Life / Flammes de la vie (here, next to this marker); The Bigger Picture / La situation dans son ensemble (approx. 3.4 kilometers away); Sawback (approx. 3.4 kilometers away); Past Visitors / Visiteurs du passé (approx. 4.7 kilometers away); Era of the Automobile / L'ère de l'automobile (approx. 4.7 kilometers away); Pilot Pond / Étang Pilot (approx. 6.8 kilometers away); The Cave and Basin (approx. 10.7 kilometers away); An Architectural Landmark (approx. 11.3 kilometers away).
Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker.
Also see . . . Bow Valley Wildfire Risk Reduction: Progress, Problems, Pathways Forward.
Excerpt: The May 1993 burn was large and moderately intense. The slopes had not been burned for over 70 years and were cloaked a dense forest of lodgepole pine with a high cover of explosive common juniper in the understory. This combination created some large patches of intense burning, with complete killing of the pine. Due to reduced fuels from the 1993 prescribed fire, the fall 2016 burn had lower intensities. Neither burn reached into habitats needed regenerating in the valley’s bottomlands where historic fires which were likely kept as shrublands by Indigenous fires in the spring. The 2016 fire was the last large-area prescribed fire in the Bow Valley, and the only large fire in the valley in the last 2 decades. The aging forests in the foreground are highly susceptible to massive mountain pine beetle mortality.(Submitted on October 6, 2026, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
For over four decades Banff National Park’s fire management program has been one of the most advanced in the northern hemisphere. Recently the program in the Bow Valley has faltered as political realities increasingly constrain prescribed fire use. However, the other options — large timber harvesting cutblocks or massive wildfires — are also controversial management directions for Canada’s first national park.
Credits. This page was last revised on October 6, 2026. It was originally submitted on October 3, 2026, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 8 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on October 5, 2026, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
