High Level is a town in

northern Alberta Northern Alberta is a geographic region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. An informally defined cultural region, the boundaries of Northern Alberta are not fixed. Under some schemes, the region encompasses everything north of the cen ...

, Canada. It is located at the intersection of the

Mackenzie Highway The Mackenzie Highway is a Canadian highway in northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories. It begins as Alberta Highway 2 at ''Mile Zero'' in Grimshaw, Alberta. After the first , it becomes Alberta Highway 35 for the balance of its lengt ...

(Highway 35) and Highway 58, approximately north of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

and south of

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

, Northwest Territories. High Level is located within

Mackenzie County Mackenzie County is a specialized municipality in northern Alberta, Canada. It is located in Census Division 17, along the Mackenzie Highway. The municipal office is located in the hamlet of Fort Vermilion. History Originally ''Improvement D ...

and was founded in 1947. The town serves a trading area of approximately 20,000 people.

History

The name High Level originated from the height of the land that separates the

Peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

and the Hay Rivers. The original location was approximately north of the present spot and along the old Fort Vermilion/Meander River freighting trail, serving as a stopping place, not a town. The original High Level Sports Grounds were at this location and the old trail was still visible there in the mid 1960s. The High Level Golf & Country Club currently occupies this approximate location. For many years, High Level was known as Tloc Moi (Hay Meadow). The first fur traders arrived in this area in 1786, but it was not until 1947 that High Level was settled, with development of road access to Fort Vermilion being the primary factor in determining the town's present location. High Level's first power plant was established in 1957, and a year later the first

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

was built. The oil fields were discovered in the 1960s, and the

Mackenzie Northern Railway The Mackenzie Northern Railway is a Canadian railway operating in Alberta and the Northwest Territories. It is the northernmost trackage of the contiguous North American railway network. Since being purchased by CN in 2006, it has been official ...

was run to the area in 1963.

Geography

High Level marks the northern extent of the

Peace River Country The Peace River Country (or Peace Country; french: Région de la Rivière-de-la-paix) is an aspen parkland region centring on the Peace River in Canada. It extends from northwestern Alberta to the Rocky Mountains in northeastern British Columbia ...

, and has one of the northernmost lands suited for agriculture in Canada. It is surrounded to the north and west by muskeg

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

Climate

High Level has a subarctic climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Dfc''), with precipitation falling chiefly during the spring and summer, and wide temperature variations, rendering warm summers for the classification. The hottest recorded temperature, of was on August 9, 1985, with the coldest recorded temperature on January 13, 1972. The name notwithstanding, this town lies at a low elevation for an Alberta community and the regional topography contributes to the extremes of temperature. In winter, very cold air often pools over the area. In summer, air masses originating from higher elevations warm by compression as they descend to High Level. Summer temperatures render High Level well within the vegetation zone, and winter average temperatures are less severe than further east in Canada even on lower latitudes.

Fauna

High Level has a variety of wildlife, including wolves, coyotes, ravens, and many types of insects. Hunters can find

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

, bear and geese. There are over 150 species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s known to nest in the area.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of High Level had a population of 3,922 living in 1,313 of its 1,467 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 3,159. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. The population of the Town High Level of according to its 2017 municipal census is 3,992, a change of from its 2015 municipal census population of 3,823. In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of High Level recorded a population of 3,159 living in 1,096 of its 1,339 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 3,641. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

Economy

The area surrounding High Level is known for its

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

reserves and

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s. Two large oil and gas fields, Rainbow Lake which is located west of the town and

Zama City Zama City is a hamlet in northwestern Alberta, Canada within Mackenzie County. It is located north of Zama Lake along Zama Road, which branches off the Mackenzie Highway (Highway 35) approximately north of High Level. The hamlet is located in ...

which is located North West of the town provides services to the

oil patch An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

. One OSB mill (which closed in 2007, and reopened in 2015 after the merger of Ainsworth and

Norbord Norbord Inc. was a Canadian company that manufactured wood-based panels and became the world's largest producer of oriented strand board (OSB). Norbord also manufactured particleboard, medium-density fibreboard (MDF) and related value-added produ ...

) is located south of High Level and a

dimensional lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

mill is located in the town's industrial area. High Level has the most northerly grain elevator in Canada and is a grain terminal for the large agricultural area. There are approximately 350,000 cultivated acres of farm land in the region and farmers transport their grains from up to away.

Government

The town has a council consisting of a mayor (Crystal McAteer) and six councillors (Brent Anderson, Robyn Dwyer, Terrance Jessiman, Joshua Lambert, Boyd Ernest Langford, Jan Welke).

Infrastructure

Both airplane and helicopter services are available in High Level. Due to the 'remote' or northern location, medevac and chartered services, provided by Nor-Alta Aviation, Highland Helicopters and Delta Helicopters, are offered to serve the surrounding communities. Scheduled airline service is offered by both Central Mountain Air and

Northwestern Air Northwestern Air is an airline based in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada. It operates scheduled passenger services to seven destinations in two territories / provinces, as well as undertaking ad hoc charters and long term charter contr ...

; direct flights to Edmonton, Calgary, Lloydminster, Rainbow Lake, Hay River and Fort Smith are offered daily except Saturdays. Telephone service is provided by the incumbent carrier

Telus Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services ...

as well as

Northwestel Northwestel Inc. (stylized as NorthwesTel) is a Canadian telecommunications company that is the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) and long-distance carrier in the territories of Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. Originally est ...

. Regional businesses are represented by the High Level and District Chamber of Commerce.

Education

High Level has three public schools and one private school. *''High Level Public School'' was the first school built in High Level and had all grades, K-12, until Florence MacDougall Community School opened. It now goes from grade 7-12. *''Spirit of the North Community School'' is the newest school in High Level and opened in 2000; it houses grades 4-6. *''Florence MacDougall Community School'' goes from kindergarten through third grade. *''High Level Christian Academy'' goes from kindergarten through grade 9, after which students transfer to High Level Public School. *According to the Fraser Institute, in 2016-17 High Level Public School was ranked 226 out of 262 schools.

Media

The local radio station is

CKHL-FM CKHL-FM is a Canadian radio station, that broadcasts a country format branded as ''River Country'' at 102.1 FM in High Level, Alberta, Canada. The station originally began broadcasting in 1988 on the frequency 530 AM, an unusual frequency for ...

102.1, part of the ''YL Country'' network of stations based at

CKYL CKYL-FM is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts a country format at 94.9 FM in Peace River, Alberta and also several different other frequencies on the FM dial. The station is branded as ''River Country'' and is owned by Peace River Broadcas ...

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

. In addition, two radio services have repeaters: CBXL 99.5 FM, carrying CBC Radio One as a repeater of CBX Edmonton, and CFKX-FM 106.1, repeating CKKX-FM from Peace River. The local newspaper is ''The Echo''. Television is available by way of locally owned low-powered analogue repeaters of

CITV-DT CITV-DT (channel 13) is a television station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. The station is owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, and maintains studios on Allard Way Northwest in the Pl ...

Edmonton (CH2807 channel 10) and

CHAN-DT CHAN-DT (channel 8), branded on-air as Global BC (formerly British Columbia Television or BCTV), is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Global Television Network. Owned and oper ...

Vancouver (CH2808 channel 12), both owned by the High Level Community Hall Society. The cable television system, in operation for 25 years as High Level Cable, was purchased in August 2006 by

Cable. Both analog and digital formats are available for television service. High-speed

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

service is also available from Northwestel.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1965 establishments in Alberta Towns in Alberta Former new towns in Alberta