Red Deer River

The Red Deer River is a river in Alberta and a small portion of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is a major tributary of the South Saskatchewan River and is part of the larger Saskatchewan-Nelson system that empties into Hudson Bay.

Red Deer River has a total length of and a drainage area of . Its mean discharge is .

The river got its name from the translation of ''Was-ka-soo seepee'' which means "elk river" in the Cree language. "Red deer" was an alternative name for elk, referring to a closely related Eurasian species.

Communities located along the Red Deer River include Sundre, Red Deer, Drumheller, and Empress, The city of Brooks, as well as Dinosaur Provincial Park, are also located in the Red Deer River Basin. A glacial flood about 18,000 years ago eroded out a portion of this basin and apparently all or most of the scenic badlands bearing the dinosaur and other Cretaceous fossils.

History

Joseph Tyrrell discovered a huge coal seam here in 1883, besides large dinosaur skeletons.

2013 Alberta flood

In June 2013, Alberta, Canada, experienced heavy rainfall that triggered catastrophic flooding throughout much of the southern half of the province along the Bow, Elbow, Highwood, Oldman, and Red Deer rivers and tributaries. Twenty-four municipalities declared local states of emergency as water levels rose and numerous communities were placed under evacuation orders. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police stated four people may have drowned near High River. Over 100,000 people have been displaced throughout the region.

Course

The river originates on the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies, in the Sawback Range near the Skoki Valley inside Banff National Park, and then flows east through the mountains and foothills region. It turns north-east before Sundre and flows to an artificial reservoir named Gleniffer Lake, created in 1983 by the Dickson Dam and keeps this heading to the city of Red Deer, where it turns east, and then south before Stettler. It flows south with its valley protected by provincial and regional parks such as ''Tolman Badlands Heritage Rangeland'', Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park, Dry Island Corridor and Midland Provincial Park. At Drumheller it has a south-east direction, and while it flows through Dinosaur Provincial Park it turns east and flows to the Alberta/Saskatchewan border, which it crosses at Empress. It flows for through Saskatchewan before it merges into the South Saskatchewan River.

Tributaries

;Rocky Mountains and Foothills
*Red Deer Lakes
*Douglas Creek
**Douglas Lake, Donald Lake, Gwendolyn Lake
*Drummond Creek
*Skeleton (Horseshoe) Lake
*McConnell Creek
*Divide Creek
*Pipit Lake
*Snowflake Lake
*Tyrell Creek
*Scalp Creek
*Bighorn Creek
*Eagle Creek
*Wildhorse Creek
* Panther River
**Dormer River
*Wigwam Creek
*Yara Creek
*McCue Creek
*Logan Creek
*Bear Creek
*Burnt Timber Creek
*Bull Creek
*Vam Creek
*Brown Creek
*Williams Creek
*Helmer Creek
*Cartier Creek
*Coalcamp Creek

;Central Alberta
*Nitchi Creek
*Fallentimber Creek
*Bearberry Creek
* Jackson Creek (Alberta)
* James River
*Schrader Creek
*Eagle Creek
* Raven River
** North Raven River
*Little Red Deer River
* Medicine River
*Kenning Lake
*Sylvan Creek
*Piper Creek
*Blindman River
*Threehills Creek
*Kneehills Creek
*Rosebud River
*Bullpound Creek
*Berry Creek
*Blood Indian Creek
*Ghostpine creek
** Pine Lake
*Waskasoo Creek
** Piper Creek
*Alkali Creek

The waters of Ewing Lake, Little Fish Lake also flow into the Red Deer River.

Fish species

Sport fish include: walleye, northern pike, sauger, lake whitefish,
yellow perch, burbot, lake sturgeon,
mountain whitefish, goldeye, brown trout, bull trout, rainbow trout, brook trout, and cutthroat trout.

Other fish include: emerald shiner, river shiner,
spottail shiner, flathead chub, longnose dace, quillback carpsucker, longnose sucker,
white sucker, shorthead redhorse, silver redhorse, perch,
spoonhead sculpine, lake chub,
northern pearl dace, northern redbelly dace, finescale dace, fathead minnow and brook stickleback.

Gallery

File:Red Deer - Aerial - downtown bridges.jpg, Flowing through the city of Red Deer
File:Dry Island Provincial Park2.jpg, Through Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park
File:Star coal mine suspension bridge.jpg, Star Mine Suspension Bridge in Rosedale
File:RDRiver.JPG, Red Deer River north of emerald shiner Jenner, Alberta

Environmental concerns

Pipeline leaks

The Red Deer River is the water source for the City of Red Deer, Alberta and the surrounding area. Pipelines cross under the river and there have been leaks disrupting access to potable water. Increased water flow of the Red Deer River system during heavy rainfall in June 2008 eroded supporting soil, freely exposing a section of Pembina Pipeline Corporation's Cremona crude oil pipeline to the Red Deer River currents. About 75 to 125 barrels of crude oil flowed upstream from the breakpoint under a Red Deer River channel, leaving an oily sheen on Gleniffer Reservoir and 6800 kilograms (15 000 lbs) of oil-soaked debris.
The pipeline, leased to Pembina, was built in 1959.
The remediation was not completed until 2011.

Heavy rains in early June 2012 caused a similar but larger leak on a Plains Midstream Canada 46-year-old pipeline on a Red Deer River tributary, Jackson Creek, Alberta (51°52'19" 114°36'23") near Gleniffer Lake and Dickson Dam, which spilled approximately 1000 and 3000 barrels (160,000-475,000 litres) of light sour crude into the Red Deer River.

See also

*List of crossings of the Red Deer River
*List of longest rivers of Canada
*List of rivers of Alberta
*List of rivers of Saskatchewan
* Glacial Lake Bassano

References

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Rivers of Alberta
Rivers of Saskatchewan
South Saskatchewan River
Rivers of the Canadian Rockies
Tributaries of Hudson Bay