AltaLink Powerline between Banff and Lake Louise in Banff National Park, and repair work on the ATCO Jasper Connect powerline after the 2022 Chetamon Fire. Even with greater forest clearing and better power pole protection than in Banff, the Jasper line was damaged and was shut down for several days.
Electrical power is key to infrastructure protection and public safety. Electricity powers everthing from cell phone communications to water pumps. When it fails, public safety and infrastructure is imperiled. The Alta-Link powerline clearing shown here near Castle Junction in Banff National Park is typical of the the primary power source clearing standards. Powerlines through this dense biomass will be seriously damaged by extreme fire behavior such as occurred across most the area of the 2022 and 2024 Jasper fires.
In Banff, the current approach to managing vegetation around powerlines is to emphasize narrow right-of-ways and to maintain visual screening from highways and visitor use areas. In future, parks and powerline managers must use different approaches such as glading forest that both reduces the visual impact of the right-of-way and reduces damage from high intensity wildfires. Moreover, a well managed powerline right-of-way can be used as a fuelbreak to protect human communities from wildfire, and restore natural habitats with prescribed fire. The following webpages consider integrated powerline and wildland fire management.
