For years, Parks Canada and the Municipality of Jasper have removed trees and branches, logged a firebreak, ignited controlled burns and asked residents to clear yard debris in hopes of protecting the forest-nestled town from a dangerous blaze. Those mitigations may now be put to the test. …”A big part of these treatments is not necessarily to stop the fire cold in its tracks, but to slow the fire and keep the fire on the surface rather than spreading fire in the canopy,” said Jen Beverly, a University of Alberta associate professor. …Parks Canada’s uses strategies like prescribed burns and the maintenance of a fireguard to protect properties and important sites in Jasper National Park. The federal agency and the municipality have been working to thin the forest around the town since 2003. In 2018 and 2019, they also hired Canfor to carefully cut down trees on a slope west of town to create a protective firebreak.