JASPER, ALTA. (CP) – Parks Canada says a wildfire that forced everyone to flee the Alberta town of Jasper and destroyed close to a third of its buildings is no longer classified as out-of-control and is now listed as “being held.”

The agency issued a statement saying that means the fire is not currently expected to spread into any priority areas.

Jasper residents were finally allowed to return to the community on Friday after they had to flee the raging flames more than three weeks ago, but an alert remained in place advising them to remain prepared to evacuate again at short notice in case fire conditions worsened.

That alert was rescinded on Saturday afternoon, according to the province’s emergency alert system, which says it is now safe to resume normal activities in the town although the national park remains closed.

Parks Canada’s statement says it’s proud to call the wildfire being held on Day 27 of the blaze, especially since it’s the day of firefighter Morgan Kitchen’s memorial in Calgary.

Kitchen died earlier this month after he was injured by a falling tree while fighting the Jasper wildfire.

It could take more than a century for the freshly burned forest in Jasper National Park to regenerate into its previous postcard-perfect form, a wildfire expert says. 

The dense forest’s regrowth could be affected by how deep the fire burned into the ground and how many pine cones hatched like popcorn in the intense heat and released seeds — not to mention climate change more generally, said Jen Beverly, an associate professor with the University of Alberta’s Department of Renewable Resources. 

“This is not a catastrophe from an ecological perspective, but we do know there’s a lot of uncertainty into the future,” said Beverly, who has been studying wildfires for more than 25 years.

“Ecosystems are going to evolve and that might span decades to centuries where an open area becomes forested, then there’s a disturbance, and now it’s open again. We can’t keep them like a postcard that doesn’t ever change.”

On July 22, wildfires cut road access through the park and forced the Jasper townsite’s 5,000 residents, along with about 20,000 park visitors, to flee through smoke and ash. Two days later, the fire overwhelmed crews and hit the town, destroying one-third of its buildings. 

Residents returning were greeted by a changed landscape of blackened trees reduced to skeletons. 

Beverly said some clues on how rapidly Jasper’s landscape could regenerate are scattered elsewhere in the park where previous wildfires have struck. 

Some of those clues can be found a 30-minute drive north of Jasper’s townsite and a few valleys away in the Syncline Ridge area.

In 2003, Syncline’s more than century-old spruce and pine trees overlooking a valley were burned all the way to the nearby highway, Beverly said. 

Syncline’s landscape was similar to the forest area south of Jasper’s townsite before it, too, burned, she said. Both were affected by wildfires recorded in the early 1900s and had been referred to as “long unburned” forest.

“Now, Syncline is still classified as grass and it’s been 20 years since that fire,” she said.

“And that can change over time as forests establish. (The previous forest) took decades and decades for it to reach that stage of mature forests. So overall, anyone visiting the park who frequents it in the decades ahead are much more likely to see open landscape for quite a while.”

Beverly said after a fire has travelled through a forest, it has typically left behind a healthy environment for regrowth.

“It’s actually a really great process where the fire is killing the fuel trees, opening the pine cones, setting the stage for this beautiful seedbed,” she said.

“This is a natural event and these ecosystems have evolved with fire.”

Climate change is a player in the recovery, too. 

“We know climate could have an impact on the way the ecosystem responds in the years ahead, or other things like continued drought,” she said. 

Evolving conservation efforts could also change how seeds sprout into new forests, Beverly added.

“We have to kind of accept management actions taken by people … Prescribed burning, removing fuels proactively to mitigate the area can all alter what those valleys look like,” she said.

“And that could be quite interesting to watch in the years ahead as we see what comes back and how it looks over the next 10, 20, 50 years.”

Meanwhile, the roads heading into Jasper, Alta., are open, but officials say tourists won’t be welcome in the Rocky Mountain town for the foreseeable future.

Municipal officials say at least 500 residents returned over the weekend, but it’s not clear how many have chosen to stay permanently.

Although the roads into town are open, the municipality’s incident commander is asking visitors to not come in.

Christine Nadon says there will be a significant police presence in town and officers on patrol will ask visitors to leave.

Nadon says many businesses that cater to out-of-town visitors are assessing damages and figuring out staffing plans before they can reopen.