In a mountain forest ravaged by fire in Jasper National Park, charred trees stand alongside a few that look like giraffes, their blackened trunks dotted with golden patches. Locals have taken to calling these strange beauties giraffe, cheetah or leopard trees.

Overhead, turkey vultures and hawks circle looking for prey. Underfoot, snakes, salamanders and turtle hatchlings do their best to stay hidden. All around, young trees — thousands of them — dot the landscape of what was once a rock quarry and is now part of a project to plant two billion trees across Canada.

It’s just a titch late in the breeding season and the elusive Bobolinks are nowhere to be found in a rare grasslands patch of Rouge National Urban Park that’s off-limits to the public. But that doesn’t stop ecologist team lead Leonardo Cabrera from setting up his high-definition soundscape recording system and calling for quiet as he captures some audio.

Parks Canada estimates fire damage to the townsite in Jasper National Park to be 30 per cent. It has revealed that 358 of 1,113 structures within the Alberta mountain town have been destroyed in the fast-moving blaze that forced the evacuation of 25,000 people.