From a go-bag to a go-camper: How these Albertans are preparing for wildfire season
CBC
Darin Nelson is on the hunt for snow.
"We're getting ready for the Alberta Snowmobile Jamboree in March," says Nelson, president of the Edson Sno-Seekers Snowmobile Club.
"We're at the mercy of Mother Nature at all times."
Nelson and the 8,400 residents of Edson, 200 kilometres west of Edmonton, lived that lesson repeatedly in the summer of 2023 when floods and wildfires twice forced the town's evacuation.
Those natural disasters have left their mark on the landscape, including on some of the 300 km of trails maintained by volunteers with the snowmobile club.
"There are 35 kilometres of their trail system in the burn zone so there are a lot of trees down they're having to clear," says Nelson. "After the fires and floods we've had four bridge repairs."
He figures his 150 riders have already put in about 1,750 hours between grooming, maintenance and repairs, and he expects that to double by the end of the season.
WATCH | Ride along with the members of the Edson Sno-Seekers:
Standing in picturesque Willmore Park not far from town, Edson Mayor Kevin Zahara points out the hiking trails, bike skills park and campground and remembers the fire jumping the McLeod River.
"Lots of anxiety thinking one of the gems in our community could have been completely destroyed by fire," Zahara says.
The overflow campground was destroyed but the rest of the park was spared. "It was a wall of fire," says Zahara. "I remember driving around town that day and people were panicking because of the skies and the winds and the smoke."
He says these days, those feelings of anxiety return whenever there is smoke in the air or an emergency phone alert.
"Unless you go through that in your community, I don't think you realize the impact it has," he says.
He says town officials are currently working with leaders in the surrounding Yellowhead County to prepare for this season.
While his party has made a cause célèbre out of its battle with the Speaker, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has periodically waxed poetic about the House of Commons — suggesting that its green upholstery is meant to symbolize the fields of the English countryside where commoners met centuries ago before the signing of the Magna Carta.