The Oldman Watershed Council is a designated Watershed Planning and Advisory Council (WPAC), set up by the Government of Alberta’s Water for Life Strategy. One of our roles is to develop an Integrated Watershed Management Plan (IWMP) in partnership with stakeholders, including all levels of government, research institutions, non-government organizations, local industries and businesses, landowners and watershed residents. This is a collaborative process using all partner’s expertise, ideas and willingness to take action.

A watershed management plan is an integrated approach to managing land and water activities; guiding development, maintenance, conservation, protection and restoration of our natural resources.

An IWMP sets watershed scale goals and outlines actions needed to achieve them. It provides recommendations on how natural resources should be managed to decision makers. The environmental, social, cultural and economic needs of the community are all considered when making recommendations and taking action.

The IWMP will give voice to the community vision for the Oldman watershed:
A healthy, resilient watershed where people, wildlife and habitat thrive.

If you have any questions or comments related to the IWMP please send us an email at IWMP@oldmanbasin.org.

IWMP Team Members

For a list of the IWMP Working and IWMP Core Teams, click here.

Phase 1 - Vision for the Integrated Watershed Management Plan

In the spring 2010 the Integrated Watershed Management Plan Visioning (VIWMP) Team released the Community Vision and qualitative outcomes statements. A huge THANK-YOU to all that provided input into this process. For a summary of the process see Oldman Watershed Planning Vision: A Process Summary.

Vision and Outcome Statements

Oldman Watershed Planning Vision – A Process Summary

For more detailed information and all related documents visit the Visioning webpage.

Phase 2 - Identifying and Prioritizing Risks

Phase 2 combined the scientific knowledge from the SOW with the qualitative outcomes developed in Phase 1. A key set of stakeholders representing all sectors was brought together to form a Core Team to set priorities and identify risks in the Oldman Watershed.

Four workshops were held with the Core Team to identify the risks that would keep us from achieving the community vision from phase 1. A total of 34 watershed risks were identified and prioritized. This information helped to narrow the focus on specific issues that an Integrated Watershed Management Plan must address. A Process Summary and Recommendations report for phase 2 was completed in early 2011 - see below for a pdf.

Related Documents

IWMP Phase 2 – Fact Sheet – September 2010

IWMP Phase 2 - Frequently Asked Questions

IWMP Phase 2 - Process Update - December 2010

Oldman Watershed Planning Priorities: Process Summary and Recommendations

Phase 3 - Setting Priorities

Phase 3 involved narrowing down the 34 risks from phase 2 and compiling them into action-oriented goals that the IWMP would achieve. This process looked at all the information collected from the Oldman River State of the Watershed Report and IWMP Phases 1 and 2.

In December 2011, the Oldman Watershed Council released Priorities for the Oldman Watershed: Promoting action to maintain and improve our watershed after consultation with the IWMP Core Team, watershed residents at 4 community information sessions and an on-line questionnaire. The priorities were endorsed by the Oldman Watershed Council Board of Directors and will be the guide for what issues the IWMP will address.

The 8 priorities outlined in the report are:

Goal 1: Improve the understanding and strengthen the commitment of residents to the health of the Oldman watershed.

Goal 2: Optimize the availability of water for the natural ecosystem while supporting the social and economic needs of the community.

Goal 3: Manage and protect the integrity of headwaters and source waters.

Goal 4: Identify and prioritize thresholds to manage threats and impacts on terrestrial and aquatic habitat.

Goal 5: Understand groundwater and how it interacts with surface water.

Goal 6: Identify water quality outcomes and assess factors impacting them for adaptive watershed management.

Goal 7: Prevent and control invasive species.

Goal 8: Understand the status and implications of emerging contaminants.

These are the goals that the IWMP will achieve over the next decade. Action plans that include specific targets will be completed for each goal.

Phase 4 - The Headwaters

The OWC is currently working on this phase. We are drafting a Terms of Reference for how the IWMP will operate during this phase and will be discussing it with stakeholders in the near future.

Goal 3, "manage and protect the integrity of headwaters and source waters," will be tackled over the next year. Targets and thresholds for key environmental indicators are going to be developed and put into an action plan. For example, water quality targets will be set for phosphorus, e.coli, sediment, etc. so that we have specific targets for what we are trying to achieve.

A draft action plan for Goal 1, "improve the understanding and strengthen the commitment of residents to the health of the Oldman watershed," is complete and everyone is welcome to send us their ideas for actions or to comment. Goal 1 underpins all the other goals because people are the key to the success of the IWMP.