Replanting forests after wildfires comes with complex challenges, but there are opportunities in the ashes

Early last September, firefighters were in the final stages of containing a 33,000-hectare wildfire complex in Alberta's Jasper National Park. Elsewhere, park workers were already replanting the first batch of trees in the recently scorched earth.

The Douglas firs were chosen because they resist fire better than other conifers, according to Marcia DeWandel, vegetation restoration specialist for Parks Canada.

However, replanting so soon after a fire is much more exception than rule. Replanting is typically expensive, time consuming, labour intensive — and doesn't always work.

DeWandel says they were able to move so quickly was because they had already done the necessary studies and surveys for replanting the area and — most importantly — they already had the seedlings, which can sometime