Concerns

The Proposed Milk River Ridge Dam

• Alberta Environment is considering a dam on the Milk River upstream of the town of Milk River near the North and South forks. They contracted 4 consultants to study the feasibility of the dam and conduct public consultations. To learn more about this project, see: Milk River Basin - Preliminary Feasibility Study: Request for Proposal.
• The department contracted 4 consultants to study the feasibility of the dam and conduct public consultations. The final study was presented to the Minister in December 2003. In February 2009, Alberta Environment informed AWA that the report had been shelved for approximately five years but would be released to the public within the next few months.
• The dam would be built within the Milk River Ridge area, a nationally significant grassland. The dam would provide water for low value irrigation projects and damage a high value conservation area  at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars to the Alberta taxpayer.
• The dam would be built within a protected area: the Twin River Heritage Rangeland Natural Area. A 129 acre conservation notation (CNT 860012) for a potential reservoir area was placed in December 1985 by Alberta Environment. Technically this notation should have been removed when the area was protected. The local committee, assuming the prospect of a dam was very unlikely, indicated to Environment Minister Ty Lund that the notation was not a major issue.
• Milk River Basin - Preliminary Feasibility Study: Request for Proposal. Find out more about this project.
  
  

This is not the first time a dam on the Milk River has been proposed and studied. One major previous study of the Milk River Basin was done in 1980. The accompanying map shows all the suggested sites for the dam. See the history page to find out more.

• For more information see our latest news.
• Alberta Environment Website
  
  

Other threats

• Overgrazing reduces suitability for wildlife and causes siltation of streams
  
• Cultivation destroys precious native prairie
  
• A bladed trail through the Twin River Heritage Rangeland is a corridor for invasive species. Invasive species can already be found some distance away from this trail.