Today, the community supports the agriculture (mostly beef in addition to a few private pork and chicken farms), fishing, mineral extraction, recreation and tourism industries.

[4] Ashern was named after A. S. Hern, a timekeeper of the firm that constructed the railway that served the Western Interlake.

[9] Ashern is home the world's largest sharptail grouse, a 5-metre-tall (16 feet) monument erected in 1979 to commemorate the birdwatching and hunting qualities of the area.

It also has an elementary school (Kindergarten-Grade 4), recently built daycare, and a hospital serving the region.

Ashern has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) with warm summers and very cold winters.

Due to its position far from large moderating bodies of water and its quite high latitude Ashern see extreme temperature variation over the course of the year.