There’s a big logging operation underway just west of Lake Louise. Parks Canada is a little past halfway through creating a safety barrier meant to stop wildfires from going too far and to give fire crews a place to stand and fight. A large strip of trees is being removed from the boundary of Banff and Yoho. “This area is prone to lightning strikes, so we’re creating a break in the fuels on the landscape to protect the communities of Field and Lake Louise in the event of a wildfire,” said Shelley Tamelin, Parks Canada wildfire risk reduction manager. The tightly packed lodgepole pine hasn’t burned in nearly a century.  The cut block is just over a kilometre long and about 500 metres across, stretching from Ross Lake to the Trans-Canada Highway. …marketable timber is being sent to lumber and pulp mills – standing dead wood will be sold for campfires.