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About Wood Buffalo

Wood Buffalo is a large, scenic region in Northeast Alberta. The region has extensive natural resources, and is one of Canada's youngest and most dynamic communities.

Municipal Flag

From fur traders who first found this forested area 140 years ago to the oil sand developers today, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo has experienced rapid growth and development. In the last century, the population has grown from a sparsely populated area to over one hundred thousand people.

Geography

At almost 70,000 square kilometers, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo is one of the largest municipalities in North America. It is a region filled with natural beauty, including beautiful clear waters and expansive forests.

Located in the Northeastern part of the province of Alberta, Wood Buffalo stretches from north central Alberta east to the borders of Saskatchewan and up north to the border of the Northwest Territories. The Municipality covers 10% of the province.

Fort McMurray is the urban service centre for the area. Smaller communities include Anzac, Conklin, Draper, Fort Chipewyan, Fort Fitzgerald, Fort Mackay, Gregoire Lake Estates, Janvier, Mariana Lake and Saprae Creek.


Rapid Growth

The Wood Buffalo area has always attracted entrepreneurs. Discovery of the region's oil sands deposits started economic growth once there was a viable way to extract the oil. Technology is changing constantly and new and more efficient and responsible ways of extracting oil are being used.

Oil is the main reason for the rapid growth in the region. The Wood Buffalo region has the second largest reserves of oil in the world, and this has meant international recognition, huge population growth, national and international market ties and business opportunities throughout the entire region.

Business opportunities are not just directly in the oil sands, but also with all of the support industries located primarily in the urban service centre of Fort McMurray. Recent activity in southern part of Wood Buffalo is bringing more attention to the rural communities as well. While oil is the main driver of the economy for the region, not all jobs are directly with oil companies. In fact, for every job created at one of the oil sands sites, three are created in the region in other industries. This translates to an abundant amount of opportunity for many kinds of people.

The egion's rapid development has led to capacity issues in the past, as services and infrastructure have not always kept up with demand. Much progress has been made with delivering services in the Urban Services Area.  Stakeholders in the region continue to make good progress in delivering the desired services and amenities to the area.


Population

The oil sands development in the Wood Buffalo area has attracted many people to region in a short amount of time. The population here has grown very rapidly over the last two decades. The population in 2010 was 104,338, with three-quarters of the population—over 76,000 people—living in Fort McMurray.

The region has experienced sustained economic growth as a result of the abundant oil sands deposits in the area. The population growth rate from 2000 to 2010 was 7.4%. During the slow global economy from 2008-2010, the Region continued to grow at a reduced rate of 1%, which was still fast compared to most municipalities. 

Wood Buffalo has a young and motivated population with over half of the population between the ages of 20 and 40 years old.  Large numbers of people, many with young families, are moving to the Region because of the vast opportunities.