The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) has recognized the Cochrane Sustainability Plan as a visionary plan. At the annual AUMA Convention in Calgary on November 4th, Cochrane Mayor Truper McBride accepted the Visionary Communities Award with citizens Valerie McCracken and Clara Plamondon.

The Cochrane Sustainability Plan was supported by Sustainable Cities and Intelligent Futures, with the two groups partnering with the Town of Cochrane for a Sustainability Bootcamp in February 2009. Participants explored how to best develop implementation strategies by using the Cochrane Sustainability Plan as an active case study.

The recommendations from the Boot Camp were to form a task force responsible for the community implementation of the Sustainability Plan. As a result, the Cochrane Sustainability Partners Uniting Resources (SPUR) was formed.

A unique collaborative process, the Cochrane Sustainability Plan (CSP) was the result of contributions by nearly 500 citizens over an 11-month period ending in May 2009. In particular, 75 citizens representing a wide spectrum of the community contributed hundreds of hours of time and effort to create the plan. Focusing on the long-term sustainability of the community, the CSP sets the future direction for Cochrane in areas such as the built environment, culture, the economy, governance, the natural environment and the social life of the community.