The valley runs via the basin of the Elk River from the southeastern Alberta border near Kananaskis to the Rocky Mountain Trench.
The valley features a diverse topography, including low-lying wetlands, mixed grassland-forest areas, and steep, forested uplands.
[1] The Elk Valley is a critically important wildlife corridor for the movement of wide-ranging carnivores such as grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines, and lynxes.
It supports a variety of large animals, including moose, elk, bighorn sheep, mule deer, black bears, grey wolves, cougars, and others.
[2] Historically, the Elk Valley was a significant centre of the coal mining industry in British Columbia for over a century, serving as a hub of labour activism and regularly electing socialist independents to the legislature.