Northern Alberta is a geographic region located in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British Nor ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

. An informally defined cultural region, the boundaries of Northern Alberta are not fixed. Under some schemes, the region encompasses everything north of the centre of the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor, including most of the province's landmass as well as its capital,

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...

. Other schemes place Edmonton and its surrounding farmland in

Central Alberta Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. Central Alberta is the most densely populated rural area in the province. Agriculture and energy are important to the area's economy. Geography Central Alberta is bordered ...

, limiting Northern Alberta to the northern half of the province, where

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

, oil, and gas are the dominant industries. Its primary industry is

oil and gas A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels ...

, with large heavy oil reserves being exploited at the Athabasca oil sands and Wabasca area in the east of the region.

Natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...

is extracted in Peace region and Chinchaga-

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

areas in the west, and

and

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply cha ...

are also developed in the

boreal forest Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruc ...

s of this region. As of 2011, the region had a population of approximately 386,000.

Geography

Various definitions exist of Northern Alberta's boundaries. The definition used by the Northern Alberta Development Council, an agency of the provincial government, includes the communities of Whitecourt, Athabasca, Saddle Lake, St. Paul, and Cold Lake, while excluding Hinton, Edson, Mayerthorpe, and Westlock. This definition is also used by the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

to define eligibility for northern research grants. The region consists of aspen parkland in the south, grading to

and

muskeg Muskeg (Ojibwe: mashkiig; cr, maskīk; french: fondrière de mousse, lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bog or p ...

in the north. The southwest of the region is part of the

Peace Country The Peace River Country (or Peace Country; french: Région de la Rivière-de-la-paix) is an aspen parkland region centring on the Peace River in Canada. It extends from northwestern Alberta to the Rocky Mountains in northeastern British Columbia, ...

, an area that stretches into northeastern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

consisting of fertile

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

, ranchland, and farmland along the

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in ...

and its tributaries. Northern Alberta is crossed by the

and the

Athabasca River The Athabasca River (French: ''Rivière Athabasca'') is a river in Alberta, Canada, which originates at the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park and flows more than before emptying into Lake Athabasca. Much of the land along its banks is ...

, both of which eventually convene to form the Slave River that ultimately drains into the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

via

Great Slave Lake Great Slave Lake (french: Grand lac des Esclaves), known traditionally as Tıdeè in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì (Dogrib), Tinde’e in Wıìlıìdeh Yatii / Tetsǫ́t’ıné Yatıé (Dogrib / Chipewyan), Tu Nedhé in Dëne Sųłıné Yatıé (Chi ...

and the Mackenzie River within the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

. Other major rivers are

Wapiti The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The commo ...

, Smoky, Hay, Chinchaga,

Petitot River Petitot is a river in northern Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. It is a tributary of the Liard River. Petitot River originates from Bistcho Lake in northwestern Alberta, and flows westwards along the northern borders of Alberta and Br ...

s in the west, Wabasca River in the center and Firebag and Clearwater River in the east. Alberta's two largest waterbodies, Lake Athabasca and Lake Claire are located in the

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (Anoxic waters, anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in t ...

s of northeastern

, forming the Peace-Athabasca Delta, that drains through the Slave River towards the

. The Caribou Mountains are an elevated

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

in the relatively flat Albertan north which provide core habitat for an endangered woodland

caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

herd. This area is conserved by the Caribou Mountains Wildland Park. The adjacent Wood Buffalo National Park is Canada's largest protected area. Other tourist attractions in Northern Alberta include the Fort McMurray Historical Society-Heritage Park, Historic

Dunvegan Dunvegan ( gd, Dùn Bheagain) is a village on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It is famous for Dunvegan Castle, seat of the chief of Clan MacLeod. Dunvegan is within the parish of Duirinish, and Duirinish Parish Church is at Dunvegan. In 2011 i ...

, Kimiwan Birdwalk and Interpretive Centre, Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory in the

Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park is a provincial park and birdwatching area located in north-central Alberta, Canada. The park is located on the northeastern shore of the Lesser Slave Lake (while Hilliard's Bay Provincial Park, ''Lesser Slave L ...

, Muskoseepi Park, and the

Oil Sands Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and wate ...

Discovery Centre. Northern Alberta contains several

diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...

bearing

diatreme A diatreme, sometimes known as a maar-diatreme volcano, is a volcanic pipe formed by a gaseous explosion. When magma rises up through a crack in Earth's crust and makes contact with a shallow body of groundwater, rapid expansion of heated wate ...

s associated with kimberlite fields, including the Buffalo Head Hills and

Birch Mountains kimberlite field The Birch Mountains kimberlite field is a cluster of kimberlitic volcanic pipes or diatremes in north-central Alberta, Canada that were emplaced during a period of kimberlitic volcanism in the Late Cretaceous epoch. As of 2011, 8 diatremes had be ...

s which in turn form the Northern Alberta kimberlite province.

Fauna

Animals of Northern Alberta include the Mackenzie Valley gray wolf (''Canis lupus occidentalis''), British Columbian red fox (''Vulpes vulpes abietorum''), fishers (''Pekania pennanti''),

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bear ...

(''Ursus americanus''), northwestern moose (''Alces alces anderson''i),

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

(''Odocoileus virginianus''),

wood bison The wood bison (''Bison bison athabascae'') or mountain bison (often called the wood buffalo or mountain buffalo), is a distinct northern subspecies or ecotype of the American bison. Its original range included much of the boreal forest regions ...

(''Bison bison athabascae''),

groundhog The groundhog (''Marmota monax''), also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. The groundhog is a lowland creature of North America; it is found through mu ...

s (''Marmota monax canadensis''), northern coyotes (''Canis latrans incolatus''),

wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a musc ...

s (''Gulo gulo''), and

mountain lions The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. I ...

(''Puma concolor''). Multiple elusive and out-of-range animals have been reported in this region, including a singular

gray fox The gray fox (''Urocyon cinereoargenteus''), or grey fox, is an omnivorous mammal of the family Canidae, widespread throughout North America and Central America. This species and its only congener, the diminutive island fox (''Urocyon littor ...

(''Urocyon cinereoargenteus'') was recorded close to Lake Athabasca, and multiple vagrant birds including

northern cardinal The northern cardinal (''Cardinalis cardinalis'') is a bird in the genus ''Cardinalis''; it is also known colloquially as the redbird, common cardinal, red cardinal, or just cardinal (which was its name prior to 1985). It can be found in southea ...

s (''Cardinalis cardinalis''),

wandering tattler The wandering tattler (''Tringa incana''; formerly ''Heteroscelus incanus'': Pereira & Baker, 2005; Banks ''et al.'', 2006), is a medium-sized wading bird. It is similar in appearance to the closely related gray-tailed tattler, ''T. brevipes''. ...

s (''Tringa incana''), and northern wheatears (''Oenanthe oenanth

'. Alberta also has reports of wild boars ( Wild boar, Sus scrofa) coming into the province.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Highway 43 and Highway 2 pass through the southwest of the region, this being the end of the CANAMEX corridor. Other important routes are the Mackenzie Highway and Bicentennial Highway in the northwest, the Northern Woods and Water Route in the southeast and Highway 63 in the east.

Grande Prairie Airport Grande Prairie Airport is a commercial airport located west northwest of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada. It is the largest airport in the Peace River Country of northwestern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia, having served 446,000 pas ...

, Peace River Airport, and Fort McMurray Airport are regional air transportation hubs.

Health regions

Northern Alberta's health region is controlled by

Alberta Health Services Alberta Health Services (AHS) which is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta is the single health authority for the Canadian province of Alberta and the "largest integrated provincial health care system" in Canada. AHS delivers medical care on be ...

Politics

On a provincial level, Northern Alberta is represented in the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from si ...

by Members of the Legislative Assembly elected in the ridings of

Athabasca-Redwater Athabasca-Redwater was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 2004 to 2012. The district in rural northern ...

Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 2004 to 2019. The Barrhead-Morinv ...

Bonnyville-Cold Lake Bonnyville-Cold Lake was a provinces and territories of Canada, provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post ...

Dunvegan-Central Peace Dunvegan-Central Peace was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 2004 to 2012. Following the Alberta e ...

, Fort McMurray-Conklin, Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, Grande Prairie Smoky, Grande Prairie Wapiti,

Lac La Biche-St. Paul Lac La Biche-St. Paul was a provinces and territories of Canada, provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using first-past-the-post ba ...

, Lesser Slave Lake, and

Communities

;Cities *

Grande Prairie Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), a ...

;Towns * Athabasca *

Beaverlodge Beaverlodge is a town in northern Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 43, west of Grande Prairie and east of the British Columbia border. History The town was named for the Beaverlodge River, which was known as ''Uz-i-pa'' ("tempora ...

* Fairview * Falher * Fox Creek * Grimshaw *

High Level High Level is a town in northern Alberta, Canada. It is located at the intersection of the Mackenzie Highway (Highway 35) and Highway 58, approximately north of Edmonton and south of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. High Level is located wi ...

High Prairie High Prairie is a town in northern Alberta, Canada within Big Lakes County. It is located at the junction of Highway 2 and Highway 749, approximately northeast of Valleyview and west of Slave Lake. History Describes the nature of the ...

* Manning * McLennan *

* Rainbow Lake * Sexsmith *

Slave Lake Slave Lake is a town in northern Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River No. 124. It is approximately northwest of Edmonton. It is located on the southeast shore of Lesser Slave Lake at the junction ...

* Spirit River * Swan Hills * Valleyview *

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

;Villages * Berwyn *

Boyle Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include: Disambiguation * Adam Boyle (disambiguation) ...

* Donnelly * Girouxville * Hines Creek *

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada England * ...

Nampa The Namibia Press Agency (NAMPA) is the national news agency of the Republic of Namibia. It was founded in 1987 under the name Namibia Press Association as a SWAPO partisan press agency, and resuscitated after independence under its current name ...

* Rycroft ;Summer villages * Bondiss * Island Lake * Island Lake South *

Mewatha Beach Mewatha Beach is a summer village in Alberta, Canada. It is located on the western shore of Skeleton Lake, east of Boyle. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Summer Village of Mewatha Beach had a ...

South Baptiste South Baptiste is a summer village in Alberta, Canada. It is located on the southern shore of Baptiste Lake, west of Athabasca. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Summer Village of South Baptist ...

* Sunset Beach *

West Baptiste West Baptiste is a summer village in Alberta, Canada. It is located on the western shore of Baptiste Lake, west of Athabasca. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Summer Village of West Baptiste ...

* Whispering Hills ;Specialized municipalities * Lac La Biche County ** Lac La Biche (urban service area) * Mackenzie County ** La Crete (

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

) * Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo **

Fort Chipewyan Fort Chipewyan , commonly referred to as Fort Chip, is a hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada, within the Regional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo. It is located on the western tip of Lake Athabasca, adjacent to Wood Buffalo National Park, app ...

(hamlet) ** Fort McMurray (

urban service area The province of Alberta, Canada, is divided into ten types of local governments – urban municipalities (including cities, towns, villages and summer villages), specialized municipalities, rural municipalities (including municipal distric ...

) ;Improvement districts * Improvement District No. 24 (Wood Buffalo National Park) *

Improvement District No. 349 Improvement District No. 349 was an improvement district in northeast Alberta, Canada that existed between January 1, 2012 and May 1, 2021. The improvement district was largely coextensive with the Alberta portion of the Cold Lake Air Weapons Ra ...

;Municipal districts * Athabasca County * Big Lakes County * Birch Hills County * Clear Hills County * Fairview No. 136, M.D. of * Grande Prairie No. 1, County of ** Clairmont (hamlet) * Greenview No. 16, M.D. of **

Grande Cache Grande Cache is a hamlet in west-central Alberta, Canada within and administered by the Municipal District of Greenview No. 16. It is located on Highway 40 approximately northwest of Hinton and west of Edmonton. Grande Cache overlooks the Sm ...

(hamlet) * Lesser Slave River No. 124, M.D. of * Northern Lights, County of * Northern Sunrise County * Opportunity No. 17, M.D. of ** Wabasca (hamlet) * Peace No. 135, M.D. of * Saddle Hills County * Smoky River No. 130, M.D. of * Spirit River No. 133, M.D. of

References

External links

NADC
- Northern Alberta Development Council
Travel Alberta
- Alberta North

- Alberta Heritage
DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com featuring Villages, Towns, Cities, Parks and Lakes of Northern Alberta
{{coord, 57, N, 115, W, region:CA-AB, display=title Geographic regions of Alberta