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About the Basin
Your Watershed, Everyone's Water
The Oldman River Basin, located in southwestern Alberta, extends north to High River, east to Grassy Lake, west to the Crowsnest Pass in the Rocky Mountains, and dips south across the 49th parallel into Glacier International Peace Park in Montana.
View the Oldman River Basin Map (PDF format 179 KB)
The main tributaries of the Oldman River are the Livingston, Crowsnest, Castle, Waterton, Belly and St. Mary Rivers, in turn supplied upstream by numerous small streams, springs and wetlands. The Oldman River joins the South Saskatchewan River upstream from Medicine Hat. And, since water flows downhill, our water - and everything we do that affects its quality - ultimately finds its way across western Canada on its way north to the Arctic Ocean.
As residents of the Oldman River Basin, we are responsible for the health of our watershed and the quality of our water.
Our Basin is home to 161,400 rural and urban residents. There are about 70 small towns, villages and hamlets in the Basin, as well as the City of Lethbridge, population 73,000. The Basin encompasses 28,000 km2 and has an average population density of just less than six people/km2.
Basin residents enjoy a wide variety of beautiful and productive landscapes. The headwaters of the Oldman River rise in the west, in the high elevation Montane foothills of fir and pine forests, where relatively small pockets of human activity impact the health of the water and land. The central and eastern portions of the Basin consist of dryer Fescue Grasslands and Mixed Grass areas, where some native prairie vegetation remains. The central and eastern parts of the Basin are characterized by more concentrated urban and industrial development, dryland farming and intensive livestock agriculture. About 33% of the Basin's land cover is agricultural, 29% is forested and 17% is native vegetation.
Source: Alberta Environment 2000
View the Oldman River Basin Map (PDF format 179 KB)
The main tributaries of the Oldman River are the Livingston, Crowsnest, Castle, Waterton, Belly and St. Mary Rivers, in turn supplied upstream by numerous small streams, springs and wetlands. The Oldman River joins the South Saskatchewan River upstream from Medicine Hat. And, since water flows downhill, our water - and everything we do that affects its quality - ultimately finds its way across western Canada on its way north to the Arctic Ocean.
As residents of the Oldman River Basin, we are responsible for the health of our watershed and the quality of our water.
Our Basin is home to 161,400 rural and urban residents. There are about 70 small towns, villages and hamlets in the Basin, as well as the City of Lethbridge, population 73,000. The Basin encompasses 28,000 km2 and has an average population density of just less than six people/km2.
Basin residents enjoy a wide variety of beautiful and productive landscapes. The headwaters of the Oldman River rise in the west, in the high elevation Montane foothills of fir and pine forests, where relatively small pockets of human activity impact the health of the water and land. The central and eastern portions of the Basin consist of dryer Fescue Grasslands and Mixed Grass areas, where some native prairie vegetation remains. The central and eastern parts of the Basin are characterized by more concentrated urban and industrial development, dryland farming and intensive livestock agriculture. About 33% of the Basin's land cover is agricultural, 29% is forested and 17% is native vegetation.
Source: Alberta Environment 2000
