Central Alberta is a

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

located in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. 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 by the Canadian Rockies in the west, Southern Alberta and the Calgary Region to the south,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

to the east and

Northern Alberta Northern Alberta is a geographic region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. An informally defined cultural region, the boundaries of Northern Alberta are not fixed. Under some schemes, the region encompasses everything north of the ce ...

to the north. It completely surrounds the Edmonton Capital Region and contains the central part of the heavily populated Calgary-Edmonton Corridor. The

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows event ...

crosses the region from west to east. Other rivers traversing the area are

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 River, Nelson system that empties into Hudson Bay. T ...

, Battle River,

Athabasca River The Athabasca River (French: ''Rivière Athabasca'') in Alberta, Canada, 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 protected in nationa ...

, Pembina River, Brazeau River, Beaver River. Tourist attractions in the region include: Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions, the Canadian Petroleum Discovery Centre in Leduc, Discovery Wildlife Park, Kerry Wood Nature Centre and Gaetz Lake Sanctuary in

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

, Nordegg Heritage Centre and Mine Site, Reynolds-Alberta Museum, Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site, Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village and Stephannson House Provincial Historic Site near Sylvan Lake. Major national, provincial, and municipal parks include Elk Island National Park, William A. Switzer Provincial Park, Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park, Big Knife Provincial Park, Pigeon Lake Provincial Park, and Sylvan Lake Park. A series of

roadside attraction A roadside attraction is a feature along the side of a road meant to attract tourists. In general, these are places one might stop on the way to somewhere, rather than being a destination. They are frequently advertised with billboard (advertis ...

s known as the Giants of the Prairies can be found in Central Alberta. Large mushrooms in Vilna, huge pumpkins in Smoky Lake, giant Perogy (Ukrainian dumpling) in Glendon, huge

Kielbasa Kielbasa (, ; from Polish ) is any type of meat sausage from Poland and a staple of Polish cuisine. In American English, it is typically a coarse, U-shaped smoked sausage of any kind of meat, which closely resembles the ''Wiejska'' ''sausage'' ...

(Ukrainian garlic sausage) in

Mundare Mundare is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is approximately east of Edmonton at the intersection of Alberta Highway 15, Highway 15 and Alberta Highway 855, Highway 855, north of the Yellowhead Highway. The Canadian National Railway tracks ...

, large Pysanka (Ukrainian easter egg) in Vegreville, a UFO Landing Pad in St. Paul and a giant mallard duck in

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

Demographics

Central Alberta has a population of 240,368 (2004).

Infrastructure

;Transportation Queen Elizabeth II Highway crosses the region from south to north, and the Yellowhead Highway from east to west. Other major highways include Highway 9, Highway 21, Veteran Memorial Highway, David Thomson Highway, Cowboy Trail, Grizzly Trail and Buffalo Trail. Poundmaker Trail runs through the north-east of the region. ;Health care Health care in the region is overseen by

Alberta Health Services Alberta Health Services (AHS) is the single Health regions of Canada, health authority for the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the "largest integrated provincial health care system" in Canada. Headquartered ...

. It was formerly served by Aspen Regional Health Authority, David Thompson Regional Health Authority and East Central Health before they were amalgamated with the other six regional health boards in 2008 to form Alberta Health Services. ;Education Post-secondary institutions in the region are Red Deer Polytechnic, Olds College, Lakeland College, Burman University and the University of Alberta Augustana Faculty (Camrose).

Politics

On a provincial level, central 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. Since 2012 the Legislative Assembly has had 87 members, elected first past the post f ...

by MLA's elected in the ridings of Camrose, Drayton Valley-Devon,

Drumheller-Stettler Drumheller-Stettler is a Provinces and territories of Canada, provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district (riding) in Alberta, Canada. The electoral district is mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Al ...

, Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville, Innisfail-Sylvan Lake, Lacombe-Ponoka, Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland, Leduc-Beaumont, Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin, Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, Red Deer-North, Red Deer-South, Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre, Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright, and West Yellowhead.

Communities

The region spreads across several census divisions: 7, 8, 9, 10, 14 and parts of divisions 11, 12 and 13. Cities * Camrose * Lacombe *

Lloydminster Lloydminster is a city in Canada which has the unusual geographic distinction of straddling the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city is incorporated by both provinces as a single city with a single municipal administra ...

Wetaskiwin Wetaskiwin ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. The city is located south of the provincial capital of Edmonton. The city name comes from the Cree word , meaning "the hills where peace was made". Wetaskiwin is home to the Reyn ...

Towns * Barrhead * Bashaw *

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of Luxury vehicle, luxury cars and Sport utility vehicle, SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Crickle ...

* Blackfalds * Bowden *

Carstairs Carstairs (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Tarrais'') is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Carstairs is located east of the county town of Lanark and the West Coast Main Line runs through the village. The village is served by Carstairs r ...

* Castor *

Coronation A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special v ...

* Daysland *

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburb of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of ...

* Drayton Valley * Eckville * Edson * Hanna * Hardisty * Hinton * Innisfail * Killam * Lamont * Mayerthorpe *

Millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

* Olds *

Onoway Onoway is a small town in central Alberta, Canada. It is approximately northwest of Edmonton at the junction of Alberta Highway 37, Highway 37 and Alberta Highway 43, Highway 43. The mayor is Len Kwasny. History Two theories are behind the nam ...

* Penhold * Ponoka * Provost * Rimbey * Rocky Mountain House * Sedgewick * Smoky Lake * Stettler * Sundre * Sylvan Lake * Tofield * Two Hills * Vegreville *

Vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a moder ...

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

* Wainwright * Westlock Villages * Alberta Beach * Alix *

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

* Amisk *

* Bawlf * Big Valley * Bittern Lake * Botha * Breton * Caroline * Chauvin * Chipman * Clive * Clyde *

Consort __NOTOC__ Consort may refer to: Music * "The Consort" (Rufus Wainwright song), from the 2000 album ''Poses'' * Consort of instruments, term for instrumental ensembles * Consort song (musical), a characteristic English song form, late 16th–earl ...

Cremona Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

Czar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

* Delburne * Dewberry * Donalda * Edberg * Edgerton * Elnora * Ferintosh * Forestburg * Gadsby * Galahad * Glendon * Halkirk * Hay Lakes * Heisler *

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It was ...

* Hughenden * Innisfree * Irma * Kitscoty * Lougheed * Mannville * Marwayne * Myrnam * Paradise Valley * Rosalind * Ryley * Sangudo * Spring Lake * Strome *

Veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

* Vilna * Waskatenau * Willingdon Summer villages * Argentia Beach * Birch Cove * Birchcliff * Burnstick Lake * Castle Island * Crystal Springs * Grandview * Gull Lake *

Half Moon Bay Half Moon Bay is a coastal city in San Mateo County, California, San Mateo County, California, United States, approximately south of San Francisco. Its population was 11,795 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Immediately north of Half Mo ...

* Horseshoe Bay * Jarvis Bay * Larkspur * Ma-Me-O Beach * Nakamun Park * Norglenwold * Norris Beach * Parkland Beach * Pelican Narrows * Poplar Bay * Rochon Sands * Ross Haven * Sandy Beach * Silver Beach * Silver Sands * South View * Sunbreaker Cove * Sunrise Beach * Sunset Point * Val Quentin * West Cove * White Sands *

Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...

Improvement districts * Improvement District No. 13 (Elk Island) Municipal districts * Barrhead No. 11, County of * Beaver County * Brazeau County * Camrose County * Clearwater County * Flagstaff County * Lac Ste. Anne County * Lacombe County * Lamont County * Minburn No. 27, County of * Mountain View County * Paintearth No. 18, County of * Ponoka County * Provost No. 52, M.D. of * Red Deer County * Smoky Lake County * Stettler No. 6, County of * Thorhild County * Two Hills No. 21, County of * Vermilion River, County of * Wainwright No. 61, M.D. of * Westlock County * Wetaskiwin No. 10, County of * Woodlands County * Yellowhead County Special areas * Special Area No. 4

References

External links

Central AlbertaTravel Alberta
- Central Alberta

- Alberta Heritage {{coord, 52, -113, display=title, scale:200000, name=Central Alberta Geographic regions of Alberta