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Our river valley was very industrial at one time, filled with with coal mines, lumber yards, brick yards and other businesses. In the flood of 1915, this was all swept away and the businesses there never rebuilt. In 2003 a group of people with a common vision got together and they formed the River Valley Alliance. It is a non-profit organization made up of shareholders from seven municipalities, with sixteen representative members on their board. This was quite an achievement, as trying to get even some of these municipalities to agree on anything is a challenge.
The Alliance has a twenty-five year plan for connecting all of these municipalities with one continuous trail, and also helps to provide amenities and facilities that would otherwise be unaffordable for some of the smaller municipalities, such as better access to the river, cross river pedestrian bridges, boat docks and launches, and community centers. Phase one of their plan was completed in 2017 and helped to create seventy kilometers of new trails as well as a funicular, a footbridge, a community center along with several other projects. Phase two of their plan is now underway an is expected to be completed by 2025/6. The municipalities cover one hundred percent of the up front costs and the River Valley Alliance then reimburses them for sixty percent of their costs from Federal and Provincial government grants they have applied for and received. This really helps the smaller municipalities to be able to afford this type of amenity. We can see several maps of the trails and plans for the future on their website, rivervalley.ab.ca. We would like to thank Brent for coming to tell us about this very interesting and inspiring project.
