A new business idea that rose from the ashes of 2024’s devastating wildfires in Jasper is starting to bloom alongside the flowers that are springing up on the region’s blackened mountain slopes.
Estelle Blanchette, owner of Jasper Food Tours, once took guests to the hills and slopes surrounding the Alberta town for cooking lessons – but that all changed on July 22, 2024 when she was evacuated in a hurry along with other residents.
“The fires took the ‘biggest route’ we had seen in 60 years: the night we left the skies were orange and it was raining ashes. When we came back on August 16, just a little short of four weeks being away, it was just like walking into the apocalypse.”
Resuming her cooking lesson tours was out of the question, says Estelle.
“The fires killed 80% of the trees. Now it is too windy up there. Plus, the burnt areas become really hot as there’s nothing to absorb the solar radiations – as we know, heat rises.”
After her business “lost an entire summer” Estelle, a trained sommelier, found work in Calgary, in a marketing role for a wine store.
In early 2025 she returned to Jasper to start up a reimagined tour that shows clients the area’s transformation, new growth and changed patterns of animal behaviour.
“I call it a wildfire picnic tour and tell the story of what happened in July 2024. We hike through four kilometres of a severely impacted area to one of Jasper’s prominent peaks.
“At the peak, we take in 360-degree vista views that are different to what they were before but are still stunning,” she says.
“As we walk through new-growth forest emerging from the ash, we tell guests that it is important to recognise a separation between the impact it (the fires) had on the community of Jasper and the effect it had on the forest and nature, because what happened to the forest was necessary and it was overdue.
“What we are seeing now is an expanded habitat with tons of wildlife and an explosion in the growth of wildflowers,” she says.
“I’ve been hiking trails around Jasper for 30 years, and I had never before seen herds of bighorn sheep so far down below – at the top, yes, but not where they are now.
“There are also elk and carpets of dandelions, which the bears are loving. In July and August there are beds of wildflowers, purple asters, violets, tiger lilies – and the strawberries coming back.
“This is the story we tell over lunch, sitting on our picnic blankets. It is a story of hope and rebirth.”
