Wildfire all but erased vast parts of Jasper National Park in Alberta, one of Canada’s most majestic destinations.

A year later, the devastation left behind is being mined by researchers seeking lessons to fight future fires.

Last summer, walls of flame and ferocious winds ripped up trees, roots and all, which now lie scattered in a charred valley like straw. The fire incinerated the soil, exposed dark bedrock and stripped the bark off trees.

“It looks like a blast zone,” said Lori Daniels, a researcher, standing on a ridge below Jasper’s famous Marmot Basin, a ski hill in the resort town of Jasper, which has long attracted vacationing royals and Hollywood stars to Canada’s Rocky Mountains.

The fire forced 20,000 people to evacuate, destroyed hundreds of properties and shocked a country still reeling from the record destruction of Canada’s 2023 fire season.