"Fire -- a management tool: Wardens prepare for prescribed burn"(Article as originally appeared in "The Jasper Booster," Wednesday, April 30, 1988).by Bill OverendPark wardens are about to set some of Jasper National Park ablaze. In early May--if conditions are just right--wardens will strike a match to 64 hectares of parkland, 13 kilometers east of Jasper townsite. Then they'll watch closely as the flames devour up to half the trees in the area.It's called prescribed burning, and it's in order after years of effective fire fighting have choked forests and reduced grasslands. "We've been supressing fires in the park since the turn of the century," says park warden Greg Fenton. "We thought it was preserving the wilderness. But fire is a natural element of the wilderness. In trying to keep things the same, we haven't been letting nature run its course."Large stands of forests, their understoreys choked with old, dry wood and soil litter, are ready to burn. During a hot, dry summer, lightening or careless campers could touch off an inferno. Enter prescribed burning. "Here you're lighting fires under very controlled circumstances," says Fenton's colleague, Brian Wallace. "You set parameters, and you don't burn outside those parameters."Setting parameters for a burn requires knowledge of weather systems, previous fires in the area, and current fuel load --the amount of burnable material per hectare of faorest. "The weather--current and historic-- is the most important variable," says Wallace. "We set up a weather station on site well before the burn."Although public safety is the primary concern, restoring habitat and controlling disease are also reasons for deciding to burn. In the case of the burn scheduled for early May, wardens are hoping to reintroduce fire as a natural element--and gain a lot of useful experience in the process."We do a lot of training," says Fenton. "You can't fool around with fire. We've attended several prescribed burns in Banff scorch our feet, and we've also had formal training in prescribed burn techniques at the forest technology school in Hinton." Even with such careful preparation, fire still earns the respect that man for centuries has accorded it. It's a tool--but a very dangerous one. "When flames crown above the tops of trees, the fire really starts creating its own weather system," says Wallace.