Misplaced Pages

#588411

33-863: The main industry in this region is tourism. This human region is almost identical to the Alberta Mountain forests ecozone. The region contains the Central Front Ranges and the Continental Ranges of the Canadian Rocky Mountains , and includes the Banff National Park and Jasper National Park , as well as the Kananaskis Country park system and the Willmore Wilderness . The main transportation corridors run through

66-599: A temperate coniferous forests ecoregion of Western Canada , as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system. This ecoregion covers the grand Rocky Mountains of Alberta including the eastern outliers of the Continental Ranges . Located almost entirely in Alberta and taking in the Alberta- British Columbia border from Banff north to Jasper, Alberta and Kakwa Wildlands Park . This

99-465: A combined population totaling 2,146. With some exceptions, their boundaries are coterminous with that of a national or provincial park. Five of them are located within national parks, and two are within provincial parks. Special areas are rural municipalities created in 1938 under the authority of the Special Areas Act. A special area is not to be confused with a specialized municipality , which

132-492: A combined population totalling 466,470 as of 2019. According to Section 80 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), an area may incorporate as a village if: Essentially, villages are formed from urban communities with populations of at least 300 people. When a village's population exceeds 1,000 people, its council may apply to change its status to that of a town , but the change in incorporated status

165-603: A combined population totalling 471,852 as of 2019. According to Section 581 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), Alberta's Lieutenant Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Municipal Affairs, may form an improvement district. Section 582 of the MGA requires that the order to form an improvement district must describe its boundaries and give it an official name. Alberta currently has seven improvement districts, which have

198-810: A provincial level, southern Alberta is represented in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta by MLA's elected in the ridings of Banff-Cochrane and part of Rocky Mountain House and West Yellowhead . The following communities are in Alberta's Rockies. The towns of Grande Cache and Hinton , on the eastern edge of the Rockies, are sometimes considered as part of this region. The following rural municipalities are in Alberta's Rockies. 52°00′N 116°30′W  /  52.0°N 116.5°W  / 52.0; -116.5  ( Alberta's Rockies ) Alberta Mountain forests The Alberta Mountain forests are

231-457: A specialized municipality on January 1, 1996. According to Section 59 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), hamlets are unincorporated communities that: Further, Section 59 of the MGA provides the councils of municipal districts (or counties ) and specialized municipalities the authority to designate unincorporated communities within its boundaries as hamlets. Hamlets may also be designated within improvement districts and special areas by

264-402: A total of 19 cities with a combined population totalling 2,959,559 as of 2019. According to Section 81 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), an area may incorporate as a town if: Essentially, towns are formed from urban communities with populations of at least 1,000 people. When a town's population exceeds 10,000 people, its council may apply to change its status to that of a city , but

297-519: A village, but the change in incorporated status is not mandatory. Alberta currently has a total of 51 summer villages, with a combined population totalling 5,200 as of 2019. According to Section 83 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), a municipality may incorporate as a specialized municipality under one of the following three scenarios: Essentially, specialized municipalities are municipalities that are unconventional in nature compared to other municipalities in Alberta, and they are incorporated under

330-475: Is a completely different municipal status. Alberta's three special areas had a combined population totalling 4,184 in 2016. An urban service area is a type of hamlet that is not officially defined under the Municipal Government Act (MGA). However, the province of Alberta recognizes it as equivalent to a city for the purposes of program delivery and grant eligibility according to the Orders in Council that established

363-817: Is an area of glaciers and high mountains covered with a forest of tall trees. The highest points are the mountains around the Columbia Icefield the largest ice field in the Rockies. The mountain valleys have a mild climate with warm, dry summers and snowy winters but the high mountain sides have a harsher climate. Average summer temperatures are 12 °C going down to -7 °C in winter. Trees include Trembling aspen ( Populus tremuloides ), Lodgepole Pine ( Pinus contorta ), Engelmann spruce ( Picea engelmannii ), White spruce ( Picea glauca ), Subalpine fir ( Abies lasiocarpa ) and Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca ) as minor component in

SECTION 10

#1732837298589

396-465: Is different from that of a municipal district. As such, Alberta Municipal Affairs provides municipal districts with the opportunity to brand themselves either as municipal districts or counties in their official names. Of Alberta's 63 municipal districts, 46 of them brand themselves as counties . Over the past 30 years, Alberta has observed a trend of numerous municipal districts rebranding themselves as counties through official name changes. Some of

429-458: Is divided into ten types of local governments – urban municipalities (including cities , towns , villages and summer villages ), specialized municipalities , rural municipalities (including municipal districts (often named as counties), improvement districts , and special areas ), Métis settlements , and Indian reserves . All types of municipalities are governed by local residents and were incorporated under various provincial acts, with

462-485: Is not mandatory. Communities with shrinking populations are allowed to retain village status even if the number of residents falls below the 300 limit. Some of Alberta's villages have never reached a population of 300 people, but were incorporated as villages before there was a requirement to have a population of 300 or more. Alberta currently has a total of 81 villages, with a combined population totalling 34,600 as of 2021. According to former Section 79 of

495-478: The Banff Springs snail ( Physella johnsoni ) which is endemic to Banff National Park . Birds include Townsend's warbler ( Setophaga townsendi ), Clark's nutcracker ( Nucifraga columbiana ), Black-billed magpie ( Pica hudsonia ), veery ( Catharus fuscescens ), and bald eagle ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus ). 80% of these forests are intact although some is being removed for urban development and tourism in

528-811: The Kicking Horse Pass and the Yellowhead Pass from east to west, while the Bow Valley and Athabasca River valley are followed by the longitudinal Icefields Parkway . Another important waterway that crosses this region is the North Saskatchewan River . Some of the best ski resorts of the Rockies are in this region, and are important tourist destinations. They include Fortress Mountain Resort , Lake Louise , Marmot Basin , Mount Norquay , Nakiska and Sunshine Village . Other tourist attractions include

561-582: The Regional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo and Strathcona County as specialized municipalities . These Orders in Council (see Schedule 1, Section 7 and Schedule 1, Section 3 respectively) also state that: Essentially, urban services areas meet the eligibility requirements of the MGA to incorporate as a city. As such, they are Alberta's largest hamlets. There are currently two urban services areas in Alberta: Fort McMurray, within

594-411: The Minister of Municipal Affairs pursuant to Section 590 of the MGA and Section 10 of the Special Areas Act respectively. When a hamlet's population reaches 300, it becomes eligible to incorporated as a village under Section 80 of the MGA, so long as the majority of the buildings are still on parcels of land smaller than 1,850 m (19,900 sq ft). However, it is a modern-day rarity for

627-430: The Municipal Government Act (MGA), a municipal district is an area in which: Essentially, municipal districts are large rural areas in which their citizens reside on farms, country residential subdivisions or unincorporated communities (i.e., hamlets, localities and other settlements). In Alberta, the term county is synonymous with the term municipal district – it is not its own incorporated municipal status that

660-431: The Municipal Government Act (MGA), a summer village is an area that: As a result of Section 79 being repealed, summer villages can no longer be formed in Alberta. Essentially, summer villages were once formed from urban communities with populations of less than 300 people and significant non-permanent populations. When a summer village's population exceeds 300 people, its council may apply to change its status to that of

693-475: The authority of the existing MGA instead of relying on the creation of their own separate acts (i.e., the Special Areas Act allowed the incorporation of Alberta's three special areas and the Metis Settlements Act allowed the incorporation of Alberta's eight Métis settlements). Alberta's six specialized municipalities have a combined population totalling 242,395 as of 2019. According to Section 78 of

SECTION 20

#1732837298589

726-557: The central and southern part of the ecoregion. These mountains are home to good numbers of large mammals. All five species of North American deer inhabit this ecoregion including woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) , elk (Cervus elaphus) , moose (Alces alces andersoni) , mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) , and white-tailed deer (northern Rocky Mountains/tawny white-tail) (Odocoileus virginianus ochrourus) . Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) , and mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus) can also be found here. Predators in

759-415: The change in incorporated status is not mandatory. Communities with shrinking populations are allowed to retain town status even if the number of residents falls below the 1,000 limit. Some of Alberta's towns have never reached a population of 1,000 people, but were incorporated as towns before the current requirement to have a population of 1,000 or more. Alberta currently has a total of 107 towns, with

792-478: The eastern limit of the region. Health care has been the responsibility of Alberta Health Services , since the province's health regions were amalgamated in 2008. Before then, Calgary Health Region was the health region ensuring well-being in the south of this region, while the north was supervised by the Aspen Regional Health Authority . Health care centres established in the area are: On

825-579: The exception of Indian reserves, the administration of municipalities in Alberta is regulated by the Municipal Government Act, the Special Areas Act and the Metis Settlements Act. As of 2019, the combined unofficial population of all of Alberta's municipalities was 4,271,759. According to Section 82 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), an area may incorporate as a city if: Essentially, cities are formed from urban communities with populations of at least 10,000 people. Alberta currently has

858-471: The exception of improvement districts (governed by either the provincial or federal government), and Alberta's Indian reserves (governed by local band governments under federal jurisdiction). Alberta also has numerous unincorporated communities (including urban service areas , hamlets and a townsite ) that are not independent municipalities in their own right. However, they are all recognized as sub-municipal entities by Ministry of Municipal Affairs under

891-579: The glaciers of the Columbia , Wapta and Waputik Icefields such as the Athabasca , Bow , Crowfoot , Hector , Peyto , Saskatchewan and Vulture Glaciers . Glacial lakes line the Icefields Parkway and dot the surrounding valleys. Some of the more spectacular are Bow , Hector , Louise , Maligne , Moraine , Peyto , Pyramid and Vermilion lakes. Banff and Jasper are the main communities in

924-762: The jurisdiction of specialized municipalities or rural municipalities, with the exception of the lone townsite (its jurisdiction is shared with an Indian reserve that surrounds it). With the exception of Métis settlements, Statistics Canada recognizes all of Alberta's municipalities as census subdivisions and groups them into 19 census divisions based on geography. Within census divisions, Statistics Canada groups some of Alberta's municipalities/census subdivisions into two census metropolitan areas (CMAs) or 12 census agglomerations (CAs) for enumeration purposes. All CMAs include large urban centres and surrounding census subdivisions. All CAs also include large urban centres and in some cases their surrounding census subdivisions. With

957-465: The jurisdiction of the RM of Wood Buffalo, was formerly a city prior its amalgamation with Improvement District No. 143 on April 1, 1995. It was designated an urban service area at the time of the amalgamation. Sherwood Park has always been an unincorporated community under the jurisdiction of Strathcona County. It became an urban service area when Strathcona County changed its status from a municipal district to

990-407: The mountains and forests include lynx (Lynx canadensis) , coyote ( Canis latrans ), grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) , black bear (Ursus americanus cinnamomum) , cougar (Puma concolor couguar) , red fox ( Vulpes vulpes ), and wolf (Canis lupus) . Smaller wildlife such as snowshoe hare ( Lepus americanus ), and American pygmy shrew ( Sorex hoyi ) can be found here as well and

1023-488: The reasons why a municipal district would rebrand itself as a county include that the term county is: more recognizable by the general public; has a more traditional appeal; and is more marketable from an economic development perspective. The last municipal district (MD) to rebrand itself as a county was the MD of Foothills No. 31, which was renamed as Foothills County on January 1, 2019. Alberta's 63 municipal districts have

Alberta's Rockies - Misplaced Pages Continue

1056-759: The region. The length is defined by the Icefields Parkway , and it is crossed by the Trans-Canada Highway and the Yellowhead Highway into British Columbia. David Thompson Highway leads from the Rockies into central Alberta from Saskatchewan River Crossing , and Banff Windermere Parkway leads from Castle Junction (south of Lake Louise ) through the Kootenay National Park to the Columbia River valley. The Bighorn Highway defines most of

1089-590: The valley areas. Large areas of natural habitat remain in Banff National Park, Jasper National Park , Kakwa Wildlands, Willmore Wilderness Park , and Ghost River Wilderness Area . This ecozone corresponds to the human region called Alberta's Rockies . 53°00′00″N 118°00′00″W  /  53.0000°N 118.0000°W  / 53.0000; -118.0000 List of communities in Alberta#Rural municipalities The province of Alberta , Canada,

#588411