In July 2024, a lightning strike sparked a catastrophic series of wildfires that quickly covered 6,000 hectares in Jasper National Park in the Rocky Mountains, Canada. I visited this area a year later, in May 2025, and was first struck by the utter devastation of nature, but as I looked closer, I saw beauty. Beauty in the charred wood. Beauty in the frazzled wildflowers. Lots of tiny things caught my eye, as well as the landscape in general, and I wanted to document it.
As Australians, we are well used to bushfires and the ramifications, not only to nature and wildlife, but human settlement: buildings, entire towns. I stayed in the town of Jasper, where entire buildings had burnt to the ground. Speaking to local businesses, it was going to be a challenging summer season this year, staff accommodations had burnt down, leaving few options for the seasonal workers to come and work and have somewhere to stay. But in saying that, there is still plenty to see and do, local business to support.
I trekked in Patagonia after a bushfire tore through the park, started by a careless hiker flicking a cigarette butt into the bush. Humans need to do better, but sometimes nature is nature, and the bush will grow back over many years. Do you see the beauty too?
