‘…for as long as the grass grows, and the river flows…’ - Treaty 6 Commissioner Morris
The North Saskatchewan River (NSR) finds its headwaters at the toe of the Saskatchewan Glacier, in the Columbia Icefield of the Rocky Mountains, before carving its way through the northern montane ranges of Banff National Park and cascading 718 kilometers across the prairie, parkland, and boreal plains of Alberta.
For centuries, this river has sustained Indigenous people as a source of sustenance and as a gathering place for the Cree, Blackfoot, Ktunaxa, Métis, Nakota Sioux, Iroquois, Dene, Ojibwe, Saulteaux, Anishinaabe, Inuit, and Assiniboine. It was this river that brought some of the first fur traders and settlers to Alberta, the riverbanks where people first farmed, built mines, constructed brickyards, and ferry. Bull boats, canoes, York boats, steam-powered paddle wheelers, and ferries have traversed its waters. Today, this river often forms jurisdictional boundaries, which inadvertently causes a stewardship gulf. The NSR continues to sustain our industry, cities, towns, farms, and society.
The Canadian Heritage Rivers System (CHRS) was established in 1984, and about fifty kilometers of North Saskatchewan River within Banff National Park achieved heritage status early on in 1989. Later, Alberta joined the Heritage Rivers System in 1994 under former Environment Minister and then-Premier Ralph Klein. Upon joining, an Alberta-led study identified an ‘AA’ list of candidate rivers across the province; the North Saskatchewan featured highly alongside the likes of the Milk, Clearwater, Red Deer, Peace, and Athabasca Rivers!
Then, in the early-2000s, author Billie Milholland and the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance (NSWA, a provincially designated Watershed Planning Advisory Council or WPAC) commenced work on the NSR taking its rightful place beside the Fraser, Red, Rideau, St. John, and other heritage rivers. A background study was completed in 2005, but unfortunately, the next steps languished for several years.
In 2019, Smoky Lake County entered the picture. Located just a short two-day canoe downstream from Edmonton, the County is driven in-part by our heritage-based economic development and tourism strategy focused in the Victoria District National Historic Site. Smoky Lake County has resolved to complete the heritage river project in collaboration with more than 15 other municipalities, utility providers, recreation and stewardship groups, and Indigenous communities.
ursuing a vision of improving river accessibility for visitors and residents, for tourism and recreation, while protecting the North Saskatchewan River as a riparian ecosystem, an essential wildlife corridor and our only reliable source of safe drinking water.
Albertans throughout the basin are rediscovering the North Saskatchewan River as a place where people (and dogs) can swim, and as a place for kayaks and dragon boats. Edmonton’s short-lived ‘Accidental Beach’, the cycling/hiking trails, footbridges, and boat launches of the River Valley Alliance (RVA) have brought us closer to the water than we previously could be. Did you know you can embark on a voyageur canoe with a well-articulated reach-by-reach river-guide, for a safe, culturally immersive, and inclusive travel experience between Lake Abraham and Rocky Mountain House, Devon, Fort Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan, and Métis Crossing? These experiences are some of the tourism and recreation opportunities surrounding the North Saskatchewan River.
Investments in water treatment and ‘WaterSHED’ monitoring from Alberta Environment, the City of Edmonton, and EPCOR has meant that on the whole, the health and water quality of the North Saskatchewan has been improving since 1990s.
The August 2022 Alberta/Canadian joint announcement of the Nomination of the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta paves the way to finally achieve the long sought-after heritage Designation. And to that end, Smoky Lake County has chosen a wonderful consultant team, led by O2 Planning & Design Ltd. to complete a Heritage River Management Plan in 2023.
We continue to work with key partners like the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance (NSWA), River Valley Alliance (RVA), EPCOR Water Utilities Ltd., Explore Nordegg, Indigenous Tourism Alberta, Explore Edmonton, and others. The forthcoming Travel Alberta ‘Tourism Zone Plans’ also present a unique opportunity for to invest in expanding river culture, experiences, and storytelling. Indeed, this work toward a heritage river is timely as it also supports the establishment of a new National Urban Park in the Edmonton Region.
This river divides and connects us. In many ways, it in fact defines us. And the tacit CHRS approach of ‘celebration and education rather than regulation’ fits effortlessly into an Alberta mindset.
Clearly, heritage status simply won’t be a silver bullet to solve all of the challenges facing the North Saskatchewan River. However, it will nonetheless assist us by unlocking and empowering powerful storytelling that will come from a collective recognition of the importance of this life-giving feature on our landscape, both to our past and future.
Heritage River status for the North Saskatchewan River will be a glue that allows us to serve as a convener-collaborator of diverse partners toward implementation of a long-term vision for river management.