Under Alberta's Water for Life strategy, Watershed Planning and Advisory Councils (WPACs) have been established for each of Alberta's major watershed basins. 

These councils are regional not-for-profit organizations that assess watershed health and work with their greater watershed community (partners, citizens, governments, First Nations, academia, industry, and non-government organizations) to develop plans and engage in adaptive management actions to benefit the health and sustainability of the watershed.

WPACs conduct education and outreach and promote environmental stewardship. WPACs are also tasked with preparing a State of the Watershed report, highlighting the current conditions of their watersheds, and an Integrated Watershed Management Plan, which will achieve the goals set out in the Water for Life Strategy.

The Oldman Watershed Council (OWC) is one of eleven WPACs in Alberta. The other WPACs are:

The Elbow River Watershed Partnership also works on watershed issues in Alberta.

The OWC aims to strengthen relationships between WPACs and allow for mutual support and assistance in addressing province-wide topics of mutual interest. Successful collaboration between WPACs means we can have more of an impact in improving the health of our watersheds across the province.

Watershed Stewardship Groups

Watershed Stewardship Groups (WSGs) are volunteer-led community groups that are involved in environmental stewardsip of the watershed at a local level. Members include individuals, organizations, industry, agriculture, municipal, and other forms of local government.

WSGs in the Oldman River watershed take initiative and develop on-the-ground solutions to protect their local creek, stream, stretch of river, or lake. Grassroots projects undertaken by WSGs have a history of demonstrating good land-use practices and making a positive impact on the quality and quantity of our water.

WSGs in the Oldman watershed include:

If you are interested in joining or forming a watershed group in your area, please contact us for more information.

Conversations Around the Water Table

Conversations Around the Water Table is a six-part interview and blog series led by the Project Blue Thumb team, which was a social lab convened by the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance and Alberta Ecotrust Foundation. They reached out to thirteen multi-stakeholder practitioners to hear their thoughts about the future of water in Alberta.

The series on the Alberta Water Portal Society site features OWC’s Shannon Frank and Sofie Forsström:

New Water Paradigms by Amy Spark and Josée Méthot

"We’re speaking with people in their comfort zone. It’s about knowing your audience, instead of making assumptions about them."

—Shannon Frank

Municipalities by Amy Spark

"There have been some very successful environmental campaigns to get people to think about responsible home and garden use, but it hasn’t translated to backcountry recreation yet."

—Sofie Forsström