“There’s no money on earth that can put out a fire like Fort McMurray,” said Glenn Mason. “If you build your community right into the forest, sooner or later that’s going to be a problem."
The affected areas include some habitat of some endangered amphibians and rare plant species disrupted during 2012 drilling work beneath the Red Deer and South Saskatchewan Rivers.
Clark says her province has a lot of experience in the labour−intensive job of clearing flammable debris on the forest floor, but that more intensive predictive work is needed at a national level.