The Red Deer River Watershed Alliance works with a range of partners to improve the health of riparian areas across the watershed. We work with scientists to help prioritize areas for conservation and restoration, and we work with partners to support on-the-ground projects.
What is a riparian area?
Riparian areas are productive and biologically-rich shorelines at the edges of streams, rivers, lakes, and wetlands. They help to filter and store water, prevent erosion, provide habitat, and can offer protection in the face of flood and drought events.
Mapping riparian condition
With funding support through the Watershed Resiliency and Restoration Program (WRRP), the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance partnered with Fiera Biological Consulting to assess riparian intactness (condition) along shorelines in the Medicine-Blindman, Little Red Deer, Kneehills, Threehills, Buffalo Michichi, Raven, & Rosebud. The Red Deer River Watershed Alliance is sharing this information and working with municipalities and other partners to identify, preserve and restore riparian habitats for their many benefits including flood and drought resiliency, receiving water quality, recreation, and biodiversity enhancements. Specific projects are summarized below along with their subsequent technical and municipal reports:
The Red Deer River Watershed Alliance partnered with Fiera Biological Consulting to assess riparian intactness (condition) along 1782 kilometres of shoreline in the Medicine-Blindman Rivers watershed using a GIS-based approach in 2020. This study area was selected because it includes important source water protection zones for the City of Red Deer, and because the area has been identified as a high priority for flood and drought mitigation. The results of this study provides essential information to municipalities and other partners to help spatially target conservation and restoration efforts.
The Red Deer River Watershed Alliance also completed a project “Targeting the Conservation and Restoration of Riparian Areas in the Lower Headwaters and Central Agricultural Zones of the Red Deer River Watershed”. With funding support through the Watershed Resiliency and Restoration Program (WRRP) the objectives of the project were to identify priority riparian areas to focus conservation and restoration activities in the Little Red Deer, Kneehills, Threehills, and Buffalo rivers while engaging and partnering with local municipalities to identify conservation and restoration activities.
Most recently, the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance worked with Fiera Biological Consulting to assess riparian intactness along the shoreline in the Michichi, Raven, & Rosebud rivers (2024) and is working with partners on implementing some on the ground projects.
An example of an on the ground community riparian planting workshop: https://f.io/Y_rgse0K
The above and other examples of on the ground community riparian planting activities and project intactness data can be found at https://riparian.info/#/riparian on the Riparian Portal. The technical riparian intactness data for the Medicine – Blindman and the Lower Headwaters and Central Agricultural Zones projects can be found on the Government of Alberta website.
For more information on the benefits of riparian areas, check out Measuring What Matters – our video on Riparian Areas.
Reports
Riparian Area Assessment for the Michichi, Raven, & Rosebud Subwatersheds (2024)
Details about the methodology and results can be found in the full project report.
Riparian Area Assessment for the Buffalo, Kneehills, Little Red Deer & Threehills Subwatersheds (2023)
Details about the methodology and results can be found in the full project report.
Shoreline and Riparian Condition Assessment for Kneehill County (2023)
Details about the methodology and results can be found in the full project report.
Shoreline and Riparian Condition Assessment for MD of Bighorn (2023)
Details about the methodology and results can be found in the full project report.
Shoreline and Riparian Condition Assessment for Mountain View County (2023)
Details about the methodology and results can be found in the full project report.
Shoreline and Riparian Condition Assessment for Red Deer County (2022)
Details about the methodology and results can be found in the full project report.
Riparian Area Assessment for the Medicine-Blindman Rivers Watershed (2020)
Details about the methodology and results can be found in the full project report.