Southern Alberta is a

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

located in the Canadian province of

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 Ter ...

. In 2004, the region's population was approximately 272,017.Southwest Regional. Marketplace Profile
AlbertaFirst.com. Accessed 22 December 2006.
AlbertaFirst.com. Accessed 22 December 2006. The primary cities are Lethbridge and

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff to the northwest are with ...

. The region is known mostly for

agricultural production Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, but other sectors, such as alternative energy, film production and tourism, are emerging.

Geography

The region has a total area of approximately 75,500 km² (29,151 sq mi). Southern Alberta is in the northern Great Plains region, lined to the east from the Canadian Rocky Mountains and their foothills. The rest of the region is dominated by the semi-arid

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 ...

s of the

Palliser's Triangle Palliser's Triangle, or the Palliser Triangle, is a semi-arid steppe occupying a substantial portion of the Western Canadian Prairie Provinces, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba, within the Great Plains region. While initially determined to be un ...

, where farms and ranches have been built, often with the help of

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

. Rivers generally flow from west to east and include the

Oldman River The Oldman River is a river in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows roughly west to east from the Rocky Mountains, through the communities of Fort Macleod, Lethbridge, and on to Grassy Lake, where it joins the Bow River to form the South Saskatchew ...

Bow River The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These w ...

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 h ...

South Saskatchewan River The South Saskatchewan River is a major river in Canada that flows through the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. For the first half of the 20th century, the South Saskatchewan would completely freeze over during winter, creating spectacular ...

, and Milk River. Milk River is the only river in Canada that eventually flows into the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

. The environment is protected in such areas as Waterton Lakes National Park and

Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park is a natural park in Canada straddling the Alberta / Saskatchewan boundary and jointly administered by the two provinces. Located south-east of Medicine Hat, it became Canada's first interprovincial park in ...

, while sites such as

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a buffalo jump located where the foothills of the Rocky Mountains begin to rise from the prairie 18 km (11.2 mi) west of Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada on highway 785. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site an ...

Dinosaur Provincial Park Dinosaur Provincial Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated a two hour drive east of Calgary, Alberta, Canada; or , about a half-hour drive northeast of Brooks. The park is situated in the Red Deer River valley, which is noted for its stri ...

and

Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park is located about southeast of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, or east of the community of Milk River, and straddles the Milk River itself. It is one of the largest areas of protected prairie in the Alberta park sy ...

were declared

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

s. The Alberta Badlands are developed in the northeast of the region, prominently along the Red Deer River. Cypress Hills, located in the east, at the border with

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

, are the highest point between the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

and

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

Infrastructure

Major highways

* Highway 1 * Highway 2 * Highway 3 ( Crowsnest Highway) * Highway 4 * Highway 5 * Highway 36 (Veteran Memorial Highway) * Highway 41 (Buffalo Trail)

Health regions

Calgary Health Region Calgary Health Region was formerly the governing body for healthcare regulation in an area of the Canadian province of Alberta. It was amalgamated with other regional health authorities in 2008 to become part of Alberta Health Services. The region a ...

* Chinook Health *

Palliser Health Region Palliser Health Region is the governing body for healthcare regulation in an area of the Canadian province of Alberta. The area region includes the communities of: * Bassano * Bow Island * Brooks * Empress * Medicine Hat * Oyen Oyen is a town ...

Economy

In 2007, Alberta Human Resources and Employment reported the fields of finance, insurance, real estate, professions, technicians and senior managers will lead the Lethbridge–Medicine Hat region's growth with an average 2.8% real

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...

growth each year until 2011. The industries of manufacturing, energy, mining and forestry would account for 2.6% each. All ten of these fields would account for more than half of the region's domestic product.

Politics

On a provincial level, southern 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 sin ...

by MLAs elected in the ridings of Airdrie-Cochrane, Airdrie-East, Banff-Kananaskis,

Brooks-Medicine Hat Brooks-Medicine Hat is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. It w ...

, Cardston-Siksika, Chestermere-Strathmore,

Cypress-Medicine Hat Cypress-Medicine Hat is a provincial electoral district in the southeast corner of Alberta. Under the Alberta electoral boundary re-distribution of 2004, the constituency covers the portion of Medicine Hat south of the South Saskatchewan River ...

, Highwood, Lethbridge East, Lethbridge West, Livingstone-Macleod, and Taber-Warner.

Municipalities

Cities *

Brooks Brooks may refer to: Places ;Antarctica *Cape Brooks ;Canada *Brooks, Alberta ;United States * Brooks, Alabama * Brooks, Arkansas *Brooks, California *Brooks, Georgia * Brooks, Iowa * Brooks, Kentucky * Brooks, Maine * Brooks Township, Michigan ...

* Lethbridge *

Towns * Bassano *

Bow Island Bow Island () is a town in Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 3 in southern Alberta, approximately north of the United States border, southeast of Calgary and southwest of Medicine Hat. History The community of Bow Island recei ...

Cardston Cardston is a town in Alberta, Canada. It was first settled in 1887 by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) who travelled from Utah, via the Macleod-Benton Trail, to present-day Alberta in one of the century' ...

Claresholm Claresholm is a town located within southern Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 2, approximately northwest of the City of Lethbridge and south of the City of Calgary. One of the Famous Five involved in the Persons Case, Louise McKinne ...

* Coaldale *

Coalhurst Coalhurst (originally named Bridgend) is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 3, northwest of Lethbridge. It used to be a coal-mining community. Around 1930, a large fire broke out in Coalhurst and cost the town ab ...

Drumheller Drumheller is a town on the Red Deer River in the badlands of east-central Alberta, Canada. It is northeast of Calgary and south of Stettler. The Drumheller portion of the Red Deer River valley, often referred to as Dinosaur Valley, has a ...

Fort Macleod Fort Macleod ( ) is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. It was originally named Macleod to distinguish it from the North-West Mounted Police barracks (Fort Macleod, built 1874) it had grown around. The fort was named in honour of the then Commis ...

* Granum * Hanna * Magrath * Milk River * Nanton * Nobleford * Oyen * Picture Butte * Pincher Creek * Raymond * Redcliff * Stavely * Strathmore * Taber * Three Hills * Trochu * Vauxhall *

Vulcan Vulcan may refer to: Mythology * Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...

Villages * Acme * Arrowwood * Barnwell *

Barons Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

Carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon mak ...

* Carmangay * Cereal *

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

Coutts Coutts & Co. is a London-headquartered private bank and wealth manager. Founded in 1692, it is the eighth oldest bank in the world. Today, Coutts forms part of NatWest Group's wealth management division. In the Channel Islands and the Isle of ...

* Cowley * Delia *

Duchess Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...

* Empress * Foremost * Glenwood * Hill Spring * Hussar * Linden * Lomond *

Milo Milo may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Milo'' (magazine), a strength sports magazine *'' Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze'', a 2011 children's novel by Alan Silberberg * ''Milo'' (video game), a first-person adventure-puzzle computer ga ...

* Morrin * Munson * Rockyford * Rosemary *

Standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

* Tilley * Warner * Youngstown Specialized municipalities *

Crowsnest Pass Crowsnest Pass (sometimes referred to as Crow's Nest Pass, french: link=no, col du Nid-de-Corbeau) is a low mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the Alberta– British Columbia border. Geography The pass is ...

Improvement districts * Improvement District No. 4 (Waterton) Municipal districts * Acadia No. 34, Municipal District (M.D.) of *

Cardston County Cardston County is a municipal district in southern Alberta, Canada. It is located in Census Division 3 around the Town of Cardston. The municipal district was established on January 1, 1954, through the amalgamation of the ''Municipal Dist ...

Cypress County Cypress County is a municipal district in southeastern Alberta, Canada that surrounds the City of Medicine Hat and the Town of Redcliff. The municipality is part of Census Division 1, Alberta.http://www.albertafirst.com/profiles/statspack/20 ...

* Forty Mile No. 8, County of * Kneehill County *

Lethbridge County Lethbridge County is a municipal district in southern Alberta, Canada. It is in Census Division No. 2 and part of the Lethbridge census agglomeration. It was known as the ''County of Lethbridge'' prior to December 4, 2013. Its name was changed ...

* Newell, County of * Pincher Creek No. 9, M.D. of * Ranchland No. 66, M.D. of * Starland County * Taber, M.D. of * Vulcan County * Warner No. 5, County of * Wheatland County * Willow Creek No. 26, M.D. of Special areas *

Special Area No. 2 Special Area No. 2 is a special area in southern Alberta, Canada. It is a rural municipality similar to a municipal district; however, the elected council is overseen by four representatives appointed by the province, the Special Areas Board. ...

* Special Area No. 3

Notes

External links

Alberta SouthAlberta SouthWestSouth GrowEconomic Development Alliance of Southeast Alberta
{{coord, 50, -112, name=Southern Alberta, display=title Great Plains Geographic regions of Alberta