The Jasper Local June 1, 2021 by The Jasper Local

ALTERNATIVE +

LOCAL + INDEPENDENT

TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2021 // ISSUE 189

THAT’S A PADDLIN’ // The less-photographed, downstream side of Athabasca Falls offers a paddling paradise. // LADA D PHOTOGRAPHY

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The Jasper Local // ISSUE 189 // TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2021

EDITORIAL //

Local Vocal Jasper municipal council is discussing an important issue that, because of its complexity, may fall off the radar of what most residents consider newsworthy. However, it’s important Jasperites understand not only how the tax ratio works but what the consequences changing it would be. The split tax ratio refers to how non-residential property holders (commercial property owners) and residential homeowners share the tax burden. Ours is currently set at 5.1:1. Essentially, for every $5.10 in municipal tax that commercial landlords pay, homeowners pay $1. This might seem, on the surface, like an uneven split, but there’s a long history as to why Jasper (and Banff) have portioned out their contributions this way. Let’s first remember that the tax ratio used to be significantly more disproportionate (it was 7.5:1 at the time of the municipality’s incorporation in 2001), a ratio precipitated by increases to the provincial education tax which, when the province took over its administration in 1994, hit Jasper residents hard. In 2004, the Alberta government agreed to extend ratepayers are paying more of the tax requisition than they think is fair, Jasper special considerations which had been offered all of a sudden being unique is a problem? to the town of Banff. The provincial tax rate fell slightly You can’t have it both ways. more than two per cent that year, but because of our disproportionate ratio, Jasper homeowner’s taxes Yes, the Government of Alberta has said that a regulation will be dropped by more than 14 per cent. The decision was drafted in consultation with stakeholders on how to bring “nonmade then to reduce the municipal split to 6.5:1. conforming municipalities” in line with the 5:1 ratio. But the regulation has not been drafted. There are no timelines or guidelines In time, that ratio still proved unsatisfactory for some at this point. Moreover, if we do slide the ratio to 5:1, the MGA says in the community. As they are again now, council was that’s where it has to stay. There’s no going back from this. lobbied by members of the business community to lower the rate further. It currently sits at 5.1:1. Particularly during a pandemic, there is no rush to make this move. Jasper should wait for the opportunity to be involved in the promised Yet now some councillors want it shaved back even consultations and make sure that the provincial government understands more. the specific circumstances of a small municipality surrounded by a This shouldn’t surprise anyone; elected officials are going national park that attracts over two million visitors a year. to work to serve those who are in their ear, and you don’t Those visitors create an enormous benefit to commercial property have to watch too many council meetings to deduce owners while also placing a strain on municipal resources. that a majority of our councillors are doing their best Commercial taxes are our only way of leveraging their contribution. to represent the interests of hotel owners, commercial landlords and property investors. Who’s left in the lurch? As Mayor Ireland said: it’s a question of equity. Employees, renters and small business owners. BOB COVEY // thejasperlocal@gmail.com I have no doubt that non-residential property holders are The Jasper Local // Jasper’s independent alternative newspaper feeling the financial strain of the pandemic. But I find it 780.852.9474 • thejasperlocal.com • po box 2046, jasper ab, t0e disingenuous to suggest that the proposal to lower the tax ratio is coming from any other place other than to Published on the 1st and 15th of each month help certain councillors’ friends in high places. Editor / Publisher Bob Covey..................................................................................bob@thejasperlocal.com It was suggested that the main driver for wanting to lower the ratio to 5:1 is to come into compliance with Art Director Nicole Covey........................................................................ nicole@thejasperlocal.com the Municipal Governance Act. This strikes me as Advertising & Sales insincere, especially when as a tourism community, Email us today.......................................................... bob@thejasperlocal.com Jasper is constantly banging the drum to be recognized Editorial Cartoonist as unique. When we want more funds to pay for the infrastructure that two million tourists wear and tear on, Deke............................................................................................deke@thejasperlocal.com facebook.com/thejasperlocal @thejasperlocal we tell the province we’re special. But when our biggest

// LOCAL NEWS

TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2021 // ISSUE 189 // The Jasper Local // PAGE A3

SAD SCENE // This male grizzly was killed by a train on May 22. It is estimated to have been 12 years old. It was the second bear killed by a train in JNP in three years. // BOB COVEY

Grizzly bear killed by train in Jasper A grizzly bear has been killed on the CN right of way in Jasper National Park. The large (appx 450 pound) male grizzly was killed at approximately 1 a.m. on May 22, Parks Canada confirmed. The incident took place near CN mile marker 211, in the east part of the park, near Devona Flats. This is the second grizzly killed by a train in Jasper National Park since 2018. Aside from railway related

grizzly bear deaths, four grizzly bears have been killed along the highway dating back to 1980 (1980, 1983, 2000, 2013), according to Parks Canada’s animal mortality records.

This bear did not appear to be feeding on grain spilled on the tracks, Parks Canada said. Commonly, bears are attracted to the railway in foraging efforts, as the plants grizzly bears enjoy are often plentiful along the tracks. Being omnivores, other animals killed on

the rail line can present easy opportunities for bears looking to bulk up, especially in the spring when natural food sources are concentrated in valley bottoms, and bears are emerging from their dens.

In addition to food, Parks Canada says bears are not dissimilar to humans in that they typically take the shortest and easiest route when they can. By traveling along the railway the animals conserve energy. B COVEY // thejasperlocal@gmail.com

Two dead in Andromeda avalanche Two climbers have been reported killed after an avalanche on Mount Andromeda on Sunday, May 30. A guide from David Thompson Country and his friend were the victims. Spokesperson Steve Young said EMS ambulances, STARS air ambulance and Alpine helicopters responded to an accident at around 8:30 a.m. Two strike teams from Jasper and one from Banff, which included a search dog, led the operation. The climbers were attempting to ski the Skyladder route on Mount Andromeda, in the

Columbia Icefields Area, in Jasper National Park, The Jasper Local has learned. A climber who witnessed the incident reported the avalanche to Parks Canada, Young said. Skyladder is known as a classic ski mountaineering route. It is popular at this time of year. First climbed in 1961, the route involves glacier travel and 40-45-degree snow and ice. The Jasper Local will report more details as they become available. B COVEY // thejasperlocal@gmail.com

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The Jasper Local // ISSUE 189 // TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2021

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Council split over how to split municipal tax burden A move to reduce Jasper’s commercial/ residential tax ratio has Jasper council split. Introduced during discussion of Jasper’s required tax rate bylaw for 2021, the idea of reducing the tax burden from non-residential properties to the residential sector was floated by councillor Paul Butler, an objective he said he’d been calling for since he was elected in 2017. “I mention this every year,” Butler said, whose case quickly found support from councillors Helen Kelleher-Empey and Bert Journault. “Residential taxes are pretty low in Jasper,” KelleherEmpey stated. Councillor Scott Wilson was less enthusiastic to make the change. He suggested burdening residents with additional financial hardships during an already uncertain year was inappropriate. He said he’d entertain a discussion for the changes to take place in 2022, but not before. “This is rash, I don’t support this,” he said.

“Our primary objective is to insert what we consider to be an equitable solution.” -Mayor Richard Ireland Part of Butler’s rationale for adjusting the tax split which, historically, has been as high as 7.5:1 but which currently sits at 5.1:1, was to come into compliance with the Municipal Governance Act. “While it’s clear there’s a loophole allowing nonconforming municipalities to remain as such, the intent of the MGA is clear…I think we should conform to the intent of the MGA,” Butler said. But the MGA’s legislation is hardly a loophole. A 2017 Order in Council allows non-conforming municipalities

PR Picnic // Pursuit paraded their vintage open top touring car through town in celebration of Teddy Bear’s Picnic Day. Pursuit shareholders will be celebrating again if Jasper’s tax ratio goes down to 5:1. // B COVEY

to leave their tax ratio higher than 5:1 if they so choose (Maximum Tax Ratio, Section 358.1). However, if the tax ratio is reduced, that lower number becomes the new “cap” thereafter. Mayor Richard Ireland was concerned that there was a suggestion that Jasper was offside of a legal requirement to come into compliance. “That regulation was designed recognizing the unique circumstances of some municipalities, in a sense grandfathering where people were at,” he said. “We recognize grandfathering in all sorts of legislation.” Further, Ireland suggested that the 0.1 reduction was negligible and that the bigger question was one of equity. “There are a raft of issues which I think are primarily in the philosophical governance sphere, not in the administrative sphere,” he said. “I hesitate to think that we can burden administration with numbers which will only distract us from our primary objective, which is to insert what we consider to be an equitable solution.” Banff, another “non-conforming municipality” when it comes to tax ratios, recently passed a 6.367:1 nonresidential/residential tax split. That community has been more willing to adjust its tax rate than Jasper; the ratio

was increased from last year’s 4.9:1 rate to account for the pandemic’s affect on the assessed value of non-residential properties. Bannf’s Director of Corporate Services, Chris Hughes, said in the wake of those commercial properties’ lower assessed values, if the town did not bump up the tax split, the tax burden would have fallen heavily on residential property owners. “The challenge is if we were forced to fix it at 5:1 we would have had massive residential tax increases.” “We get four million tourists per year and the only ability to collect tax from them are the businesses who benefit from tourism,” Hughes said. Hughes added that a tax ratio cap gives non-conforming municipalities one less tool to share the burden equally among residents and visitors. In Jasper’s last committee of the whole meeting, Ireland moved that COW recommend to council to approve the tax rate bylaw as presented (with a 5.1:1 tax ratio) with the knowledge that it would be debated at council. Council meets Tuesday June 1 for that debate. Follow The Jasper Local online for an update to this story. BOB COVEY // thejasperlocal@gmail.com

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LOCAL SCIENCE

Wildlife expert not convinced of captive breeding An independent wildlife biologist in Alberta is casting doubt on Jasper National Park’s plans to breed mountain caribou in captivity. Gilbert Proulx has studied the Little Smoky woodland caribou near Grande Cache, as well as mountain caribou in British Columbia and woodland caribou in Newfoundland. He said that with exception of barren ground caribou, such as the large migratory herds found in northern Canada and Alaska, caribou have never been present in great numbers in the wild and that without a concerted effort to connect habitat inside and outside of national park borders, he is hard pressed to believe captive breeding will work.

Regardless of the approach, Proulx said one of the largest hurdles to seeing long term species recovery is the loggerheads at which federal and provincial governments find themselves when it comes to conservation. On one hand, Canada’s Species At Risk

Act (SARA) requires an action plan be created for the recovery of the threatened woodland caribou. Yet wildlife (outside of national parks) are under provincial jurisdiction. This political football has resulted in inaction, Proulx said.

petroleum and natural gas tenures have been issued over 95 per cent of it. The A La Peche herd, meanwhile, which moves back and forth from Wilmore Wilderness Park and Jasper National Park, requires habitat in the Little Smoky Mountains for its winter ranging. That winter range is similarly carved up by CARIBOU FACTS industry. 8 Caribou in Jasper National Park are a Proulx is supportive subset of woodland caribou known as of other caribou southern mountain caribou conservation measures 8 The caribou has a short, stocky body that in Jasper National conserves heat, but its legs are long to Park. He agrees help it move through the deep snow. with area closures to 8 Caribou’s hooves are large and hollowed recreational users in out. These make a handy tool for the winter to mitigate scooping up lichen, an important food predator access and source, that’s under snow. he maintains, like 8 The caribou is the only member of the other conservationists deer family where both males and have argued, that not females grow antlers. The antlers of closing the Maligne the female are smaller than those of Lake Road in the the male, but they are carried for a winter when it was longer period of time. first proposed 30 years 8 The average lifespan of a caribou is 10 ago was a mistake. to 15 years. “There would be 8 Caribou have scent glands at the hope if they were base of their ankles. When an animal ensuring there was a senses danger, it will rear up on its hind legs to release a scent that alerts nice corridor for them, where the caribou the other caribou. could cross the road 8 Woodland caribou are classified safely.” as threatened by the federal and provincial governments But he’s hesitant to put faith in a captive breeding program. In his experience, such schemes have yet to produce results.

“The law says if the province doesn’t do something, the feds will jump into it but in the last 30 years that hasn’t happened,” Proulx said.

“I admire the effort of the biologists in the park but I’m reluctant to approve any program that involves raising animals in captivity.

No where is that problem more evident than in the Little Smoky Mountains, where forestry tenures cover 100 per cent of the Little Smoky caribou range and

“At the end of the day you have to look at the main factor: habitat.” BOB COVEY // thejasperlocal@gmail.com

“I think that there is a misconception in some management that we can try to stockpile caribou,” he said. “It’s really hard to do if you don’t increase and connect their habitat.” Proulx, the executive director at Alpha Wildlife, said that his work, which has taken him from Africa to Australia, has shown him that captive-raised animals, particularly herbivores, do not do well when released in the wild. “When you raise these animals in a virgin environment they don’t recognize their predators,” he said. A scientific review panel recently gave its approval to Parks Canada’s proposed $25-million project to help restore Jasper National Park’s Tonquin herd. The project will permanently pen up to 40 females and five males in a highly managed and monitored area of about one square kilometre surrounded by an electrified fence. Raised animals would be eventually released into the wild. There is the potential to restore Banff’s extirpated herds, too, Parks Canada has said. But Proulx feels a different tack would be more appropriate. He suggests a project which augments Jasper’s declining caribou populations with animals from healthier herds would have a better chance at success. “That way the caribou are brought up and know about the predators,” he said. “If you take them young enough they can amalgamate themselves with other caribou already in place.”

HERD ENOUGH//Biologist Gilbert Proulx says pen-raised caribou don’t recognize predators.// PETRA SOLOVSKÁ

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The Jasper Local // ISSUE 189 // TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2021

STORY BY DAVID HARRAP //

HERBS FOR JASPER Musings from a hi

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Flowers are edible (as they open up they get very “hot”) and can be used in salads, sauteed, as a garnish, or to make a lovely chive blossom vinegar (use white wine vinegar) the colour of rosé wine.

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Plants are best revitalized every five years by digging up the clumps, splitting then replanting.

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One ingredient in the Sagwa nostrum was the herb dill (from the Old Norse word dilla, “to lull”); its seed oil still used in Gripe Water to sooth colic in infants.

Chives, a perennial, are great for Jasper gardens. They are fully hardy, ornamental, and indispensable for the kitchen. They tolerate a wide range of soils and locations, such as partial shade. With their compact form and pink pompom blooms they don’t look out of place in the front of a flower bed. If you cut the plants back after flowering they will send up more fresh green spikes.

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Like stockholders in vanishing gold mines there were lots of suffering customers holding bottles of Sagwa when “Texas Charley” and “Liver Pads” Healey rode off into the sunset with bags of loot from the lucrative herbal business.

Dill seed is harvested about three weeks after the f lowers have finished blooming. Tie the dried f lowers in bunches and hang in a warm, dry spot over paper. Gather the fallen seeds as needed.

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Kickapoo voodoo made a lot of money for the founders of the company, “Texas Charley” Bigelow and Irish born John E. Healy, who got his start in medicine with liver pads filled with sawdust, impregnated with red pepper to make them tingle—and a “drugstore” smell. The company’s medicine chest included Kickapoo Indian Oil (“the quick cure for all pains”), Buffalo Salve (“especially good for itching piles”), Cough Cure and Kickapoo Indian Worm Killer famous for “delivering a woman of the longest tape worm ever seen in Ottumwa, Iowa”.

Grow dill in rich, well drained soil in full sun. The leaves (dillweed) should be picked early in the morning before the sun is on the plant; they are at their tastiest best before the plants bloom. To preserve the delicate f lavour of dillweed use scissors rather than a knife when you cut it up.

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Bottles of Sagwa, “nature’s remedy made from roots,herbs, barks” f logged by Dr Prairie Wolf and Little Bright Eyes encamped in tepees across the American nation cured everything from malaria to poisoned blood. In Prospect, Ohio, one grateful customer was “rescued from the grave”, such was the power of Sagwa.

Dill, a member of the parsley family, is an annual and easy to grow from seed. It selfseeds with remarkable ease so you could have it coming up in the garden for years.

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American plainsman, army scout, circus manager and showman, William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody, was purportedly cured—permanently— from malaria (contracted while in Staten Island, New York ) by swigging down several bottles of patent Kickapoo Indian Sagwa, courtesy of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, New Haven, Connecticut.

R GARDENERS gh-altitude grower If you want to impress the Joneses one of the boldest, biggest herbs you could ever grow here is angelica, Angelica archangelica. It’s fully hardy, coming as it does from Scandinavia, Central Europe, Siberia, Greenland—yes, vegetation does grow there, in places!—and Iceland.

Angelica likes rich, well-drained MOIST soil and dappled shade during the heat of the day. Plants can grow up to two metres so give them plenty of room.

Angelica is easiest to grow from first-year plants obtained (if you can find them) from a nursery. For the inexperienced We have driven past the gardener mint fields of Oregon, growing redolent on a hot evening; angelica from walked through swaying seed can fields of yellow-flowering be tricky. honey-scented rape. But You need the only place we have to break bushwhacked through herbs the natural was on the uninhabited dormancy Hornstrandir peninsula of the at the northern end of the seed. You Westfjords, Iceland, one of do this by Europe’s last true wilderness subjecting the areas. The angelica was taller seed to cold than us and we almost needed treatment: a machete to hack our way you are through. The arctic fox and attempting the Arctic Circle were just the to mimic other side of the cliffs we were conditions hiking; the ground was damp the seed and the bees were busy. would experience In the Middle Ages angelica in the wild. Angelica sylvestris (Angelica) was used in “Angelica So before sowing Water” to cure (dream keep the seed in a sealed plastic bag in on!) victims of the great plague of the refrigerator for 30 days. (Larkspur/ London. In France angelica is one delphinium seed is another plant requiring of the 130 herbs, plants and flowers similar treatment.) Angelica needs light to flavouring the liqueur Chartreuse germinate so don’t cover seeds when you sow made by the Carthusian monks them. Germination takes around 30 days. from instructions contained in an Angelica has an anise-like, slightly sweet alchemical manuscript dating to taste with a hint of licorice. Young stems 1605. Since 1737 the monks have can be candied, or used to f lavour rhubarb been knocking up their secret brew and orange marmalade. Young leaves can be of this “elixir of long life.” I’m partial added to salads. If you want to knock the to Green Chartreuse (Bob take note !); socks off the Joneses have them for dinner maybe it helps me climb mountains? and fix omelettes and fried trout, both f lavoured with the Iceland herb. In England angelica is put in gin, or ________________________________ used candied to decorate Christmas and DAVID HARRAP // thejasperlocal@gmail.com birthday cakes. The foliage of angelica is bright green, coarsely toothed, oval, and resembles that of celery. Flowers are beautiful huge umbels of tiny greenish-white. Bees are crazy about them. Stems are sturdy, round, hollow, with a purplish tinge. Being a biennial, plants will die after seed is set the second year of growth.

Jasper’s David Harrap is the author of the soonto-be-published book Over The Mountains, Under The Stars. He’s no wilting chive flower, but as a solo adventurer, he too tolerates a wide range of soils and locations.

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The Jasper Local // ISSUE 189 // TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2021

LOCAL FUNDRAISING BY ADVENTURE

Solo canoeist paddling in the name of grieving parents Jasper’s David Hatto is embarking on an another ambitious adventure in support of mothers and families who have lost their infants. The 78-year-old left today (June 1) to embark on a 28 day, 1,450 km solo canoe trip down the North Saskatchewan River. Putting in at Rocky Mountain House, Hatto will spend the next month navigating the waterways that one of his heroes, explorer and mapmaker David Thompson, traversed in the 1800s. To those affected by Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), however, it’s Hatto who is the hero. His journey, like his paddle down the famous River Thames and his 1,014 km walk around England’s South West Coast Path, in 2017, is an effort to raise awareness and funds for mothers affected by SIDS. His granddaughter passed away unexpectedly in 2014. She will be on his mind every bend of the river, he said. “That’s the thing about a trip like this,” he said. “When paddling your mind can wander and you can think about who your granddaughter was and who you want to be.” The experienced paddler has canoed most of the route in question, and isn’t terribly concerned about hazards on the river themselves—“the only rapids are grade one, perfectly navigable by an old fool like me,” he said. But he will have to think on his feet to find a place to camp each night. The North Saskatchewan River cuts a deep canyon though the prairie and he’ll need to look for merging river conf luences that form a decent beach on which to raise his tent. He doesn’t exactly have

Jasper’s David Hatto is readying himself for another adventure, raising money and awareness for families greiving the loss of their infant children. Hatto will canoe self supported for 1,450 kms.// BOB COVEY

the luxury of searching for recommendations from other travellers. “It’s difficult to find anyone who has actually done what I’m doing,” he said. That’s an understatement. Hatto, who has rigged up his 16 foot canoe with extra padding, a spray deck and filled it with 36 days (just in case) of freeze dried food as well as the requisite emergency gear, a military-issued first aid kit and navigational tools, will be sent off by his wife of five decades, Jenny. She said this trip proves that he’s just as crazy as when they met at college. “That’s why I married him,” she laughed.

When they reunite, it will be after David takes out at at Cumberland House, the oldest community in Saskatchewan and the first inland post established by the Hudson’s Bay Company. Hatto said if he can bring people’s attention to the trauma mothers and families who have lost their infants, the adventure will have been worth it. “Through it all the thought that will be in my mind is my granddaughter, Hazel,” he said. ___________________________________ To follow Hatto’s progress and to make a donation to help support grieving parents, go to hazels-helper.com or search Hazel’s Helper on Facebook. BOB COVEY // thejasperlocal@gmail.com

TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2021 // ISSUE 189 // The Jasper Local // PAGE B6

LOCAL WILDLIFE

Jasper National Park is warning visitors of bear activity in the Three Valley Confluence, and for good reason! Snarky commenters on news sites are all “bears live in Jasper, this is their home, what’s the big deal?” But locals who’ve seen these three families and the other grizzlies currently feasting on the greened up valley bottom (14 all together) know that even for JNP, this is a lot of Ursus arctos horribilis. By now our readers recognize the stellar work of wildlife photographer Simone Heinrich, who has been documenting the trifecta of three-year-old cubs (at left) since they were brought into this world. But did you know the mother grizz finally gave the teens the boot? They are now making their own way in life. Another reason to keep your head on a swivel. Take that, commenters! // SIMONE HEINRICH

Toxic update: Recycling group pressuring province to delay HHW program cancelation With no solution forthcoming to how municipalities will process their Household Hazardous Waste, the association of Alberta Coordinated Action for Recycling Enterprises (Alberta CARE) is asking the Minister of Infrastructure to delay the discontinuance of this critical program. Linda McDonald, executive director of Alberta CARE, is worried that the suspension of HHW processing at the Swan Hills Treatment Centre will not only download costs to municipalities, but that the toxic materials in question could end up in the environment. “We’re worried this will take us back to the early ‘60s when the guy in his backyard garage puts his oil in the sewers or ditches,” McDonald said. “We don’t need that contamination in our wastewater.” International waste management company SUEZ is the operator of the government-owned Swan Hills Treatment Centre. SUEZ laid off 60 per cent of its staff in January. The Ministry of Infrastructure said staffing is determined by the operator but confirmed a reduced

operating model moving forward. For municipalities like Jasper, those reductions will inevitably end up as increases. From a survey of her members, McDonald is estimating a 54 per cent increase in costs to their HHW budgets, because the only other facilities that exist to process the waste are thousands of kilometres away, across the border. “We know what haulers are going to be charging,” she said. “Budgets have already been completed for municipalities.” On behalf of Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP), the Alberta Recycling Management Authority has a duty of care to find safe disposal for HHW. ARMA CAO Ed Gugenheimer has suggested to municipalities that their HHW haulers will be able to locate facilities, but McDonald isn’t so sure. What’s certain is that the cost of disposal will be way higher, she said. “The issue is we don’t have any other disposal site,” she said. “This will be downloaded on the backs of taxpayers.” Already two of Alberta CARE’s members have refused to collect HHW. In late March, the County of Wetaskiwin

announced it would not be participating in the annual Household Hazardous Waste and Toxic Round-up because the provincial government would no longer subsidize the program, and days later, the Town of Millet made the same choice. Here in Jasper, Operations Manager John Greathead shipped what HHW he could to Swan Hills before the cutoff, but after June 1, he’ll have to store it. That is, unless the government responds to the urging of Alberta CARE to extend the program. “The ideal thing would be to have an extension until EPR comes online,” she said. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a system where manufacturers are responsible for the end-of-life disposal of the products they make. Waste reduction advocates have called for it to be introduced to Alberta for many years, citing it as a way to relieve taxpayers of the rising costs of recycling. The province has said it wants to roll out an EPR framework by the fall. BOB COVEY // thejasperlocal@gmail.com

Trails 2E and 2B got some major upgrades recently thanks to the work of Jasper Pyramid Riding Stables and the Whitecourt-based millers (as well as local labour) hired on to construct hundreds of metres of boardwalk. The boardwalk allows all trail users to avoid the muck that had plagued the area for years. // BOB COVEY