A river valley is simply an elongated feature on the Earth’s surface carved by a river. Each river valley includes a valley floor and valley sides.

The Bow River Valley is the dominant landform throughout Calgary. It shapes much of the topography and character of Calgary as a whole, truly making our city “a great place to make a living – a great place to make a life.”

The Elbow River Valley is the second biggest river valley landform in Calgary, followed by the Nose, West Nose and Fish Creek Valleys.

In Calgary, our river valleys are home to many communities, our downtown core, and our parks and pathway networks. Our river valleys are critical ecological corridors, encompassing natural open spaces, trees, terrestrial wildlife habitats and riparian areas. River valleys feature in Calgary’s origin story and are woven into our place names. The confluence of the rivers is known as Moh’kinsstis by the Blackfoot people, Wicispa Oyade by the Stoney Nakoda people, Guts’ists’i by the Tsuut’ina and Otoskwunee by the Métis. River valleys are also a key part of Calgary’s visual landscape and wayfinding system.

Developed in 1983, the Calgary River Valleys Plan contains a range of policies on development, recreational use and conservation of Calgary’s rivers, creeks and adjacent lands.

There have been significant changes to our river valleys in the last 40 years, including development of a parks and open space system, our experience with the 2013 flood, continued growth pressure and land use decisions in our city and a changing climate.

Updating river valley policies and regulations through the Calgary River Valleys Project will ensure we continue to anchor our river valleys in long-term city planning decisions and resiliency, guided by values of climate resilience, equity, reconciliation and economic development.

Given the broad purpose of the Calgary River Valleys Project, it is crucial we hear from everyone that has an interest in our river valley areas, including Indigenous communities, community members, civic partners and developers, to consider all perspectives as we explore coordinated and integrated policy options.

A multi-staged engagement approach is being conducted in 2023 and 2024.

• Stage 1 (spring 2023) clarified priorities and values for our river valley communities
• Stage 2 (anticipated late 2023) will look at floodplain policy and land use decisions, with a focus on location-specific regulations and flood mapping.
• In future stages, we will share draft Calgary River Valleys policies and regulations for feedback.

River valleys are also sacred spaces, and all planning activities must be rooted in an understanding of settler-colonial relations, Treaty history and Indigenous rights. A critical focus throughout all stages of the project is Indigenous engagement that is rooted in respect, relationship building and ethical-space. As part of this, a series of gatherings to convene Elders, Knowledge Keepers and members of Treaty 7 Nations, Métis Nation of Alberta Region 3 and urban Indigenous Calgarians are taking place in 2023.

We know Calgarians value our river valleys. That’s why your input on how we make decisions on the use, conservation and development of our river valleys and communities is important.

What we learn from public engagement, along with Indigenous knowledge, expert and technical advice will inform the development of new river valley policies and regulations. These will help to shape our community for years to come.

Learn how you can get involved at Calgary.ca/RiverValleys.

Making careful decisions about land use planning and development regulations in the floodplain is a fundamental part of Calgary’s approach to building flood and climate resilience and supports our overall Flood Resilience Plan.

There are a number of actions that have advanced The City’s land use and flood resilience context, including the 2014 updates to flood hazard area regulations in the Land Use Bylaw (LUB), and updates to Section 4.4 of the Municipal Development Plan (MDP). As our city continues to grow, and the information available about flood risk evolves and improves, it is important that we continue to revisit floodplain land use policies and building regulations to guide how we plan and develop in river communities to make them more resilient.

As part of the Calgary River Valleys Project, floodplain policies and regulations will be reviewed and modernized to protect and enhance our river valleys, while helping shape more resilient river communities, and guiding updates to the LUB, the MDP, and related plans and regulations. This will be further explored in Stage 2 engagement (anticipated late 2023).

We are committed to engaging with Calgarians and all interested parties prior to making any policy and regulatory revisions. While a review of our river valley and floodplain-related policies will potentially lead to updates to the Municipal Development Plan, local area plans, Land Use Bylaw and other relevant planning documents and regulations, any decisions made will be informed by the results of our extensive public and Indigenous engagement, as well as expert and technical advice.

The Calgary River Valleys Project provides detailed direction and guidance for decisions about how we plan, develop and build within the whole river valleys system. Connect: Calgary’s Parks Plan provides high level direction for the protection and management of land adjacent to the river within parks. Information about that project and engagement can be found at engage.calgary.ca/parksplan.