Sturgeon River Initiatives

Improving River Health

In conjunction with the Sturgeon River Watershed recommendations, the City of St. Albert has several initiatives that focus on improving the health of the Sturgeon River as it passes through the community.

The Environmental Master Plan has a goal to improve the water quality of the Sturgeon River which includes four targets: reduce nutrients, pesticides and bacteria levels detected in the Sturgeon River by 2020; capture 75 percent or greater of municipal winter sanding materials by 2020; reduce municipal pesticide use to 0.25 kg of active ingredient (ai) per hectare or lower by 2020 and reduce residential pesticide use to 0.5 kg of active ingredient (ai) per hectare or lower by 2020.
City Council approved approximately $10 million in funding over the next ten years for the implementation of the updated Sedimentation and Erosion Control Plan (part of the City of St. Albert Stormwater Master Plan), which will include the retrofit of six to seven high priority storm outfalls with grit interceptors.
Implementation of ISO 14001 registration for Public Works Environmental Management System, which includes programs to minimize the use of road salts and sands; maximize grit removal; address invasive plants in the river valley and optimize spill response.
Continue water quality monitoring of Sturgeon River, Carrot Creek, and a subset of City stormwater outfalls to provide a long-term indicator of the community’s impacts and improvements to the river’s health over time.
Partnership with St. Albert campus of Nova NAIT to provide applied research opportunities to aid in the study of the ecological health of the Sturgeon River watershed, including river crossing and water quality assessments, updating the River Edge Enhancement Plan and completing a riparian health assessment of Carrot Creek.
Implementation of Downtown Area Redevelopment Plan (DARP) with one of nine key principles being “to embrace the Sturgeon River and Red Willow Park system with new development and enhanced open space”.
Focus on creative and innovative opportunities within undeveloped areas of the City to reduce impacts and improve connections to the Sturgeon River.

How you can help

Get your hands dirty at the City's Clean and Green Riverfest event.
If you regularly visit a lake in the watershed, consider becoming a LakeKeeper with the Alberta Lake Management Society (ALMS).
Contact the Environment Department to bring the Yellow Fish Road Program to your neighbourhood.
E-mail environment@stalbert.ca for more information on the State of the Sturgeon River Watershed report.

Resources

Sturgeon River State of the Watershed Summary Document (PDF)

Sturgeon River: State of the Watershed Technical Report (PDF)

NAIT – Research on Sturgeon River Watershed – January 2015 (5-minute video)
This video outlines key issues in the watershed and shows NAIT’s work to restore habitat. NAIT and their project partners have restored several hectares of river habitat and engaged over 500 volunteers in restoration research and activities throughout the watershed. The City of St. Albert’s Environmental Initiatives Grant Program provided partial funding for the development of this video.