In 2014, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) initiated a Play-Based Regulation (PBR) pilot project as a step towards implementation of the Unconventional Regulatory Framework. One of the goals of the PBR pilot is to encourage companies in the unconventional play area to work together on plans for surface development to minimize the numbers of facilities and surface impacts. This dataset is one of a series created using earth observation imagery to assess surface change caused by energy exploration. The PBR area extends from Twp. 52, Rge. 7, W 5th Mer. to Twp. 70, Rge. 5, W 6th Mer., covering the towns of Edson, Fox Creek, Mayerthorpe, Whitecourt, Swan Hills, and Valleyview. Landsat multispectral imagery for 2010 and 2011 and land use and land cover classification data derived from 2011 were used to produce this dataset. The land use and land cover changes include vegetation loss from anthropogenic disturbances, such as infrastructure related to oil and gas exploration, forestry and agriculture, and vegetation recovery from these disturbances. This digital data release contains the vegetation loss data, classified into 9 classes: 1 - exposed land/cut blocks/harvested areas, 3 - transitional bare surfaces, 4 - mixed developed areas, 5 - developed areas, 6 - shoal, 7 - shrub land, 8 - grassland and 9 - agricultural areas. These categories can be used as baseline data for planning, managing and monitoring surface infrastructure needs and impacts.

The Forest Protection Area dataset is comprised of all the polygons that represent the administrative areas established by Forest Protection, Forestry Division of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry concerned with the prevention and control of damage to forests from fire, insects, disease and other harmful agents.

Sand and gravel include information related to aggregate deposits.**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

The Indian Reserve dataset is comprised of all the polygons that represent Indian Reserves in Alberta. Indian Reserve lands are lands set aside for the exclusive use and benefits of the Band(s) to which it is assigned. The federal government has primary jurisdiction over these lands and the people living on them.

In 2014, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) initiated a Play-Based Regulation (PBR) pilot project as a step towards implementation of the Unconventional Regulatory Framework. One of the goals of the PBR pilot is to encourage companies in the unconventional play area to work together on plans for surface development to minimize the numbers of facilities and surface impacts. This data set is one of a series created using earth observation imagery to assess surface change caused by energy exploration. The PBR area extends from Twp. 52, Rge. 7, W 5th Mer. to Twp. 70, Rge. 5, W 6th Mer., covering the towns of Edson, Fox Creek, Mayerthorpe, Whitecourt, Swan Hills, and Valleyview. This quality evaluation dataset was produced for 2010 Landsat data to identify possible misclassified areas due to sensor noise, cloud, haze, and cloud shadow. These areas are assigned to 'bad pixels' or value '1' in the quality evaluation dataset.

The coal zone boundary for the Taber Coal Zone is based on subcrops generated by Alberta Geological Survey Special Report 007 (Regional Evaluation of the Coalbed Methane Potential in the Plains and Foothills of Alberta, Stratigraphy and Rank Study). We used additional coal picks from various sources to refine the boundary.

Alberta Geological Survey created a coal and coalbed methane (CBM) database to capture and manage CBM data. The database compiles different sources and contains information on 7923 wells (15,200 formation picks, 37,357 coal picks, 495 coal analyses and 363 vitrinite reflectance measurements). From this parent dataset, individual coal zone was evaluated. This record describes the Taber coal zone net coal thickness.

Alberta Geological Survey created a coal and coalbed methane (CBM) database to capture and manage CBM data. The database compiles different sources and contains information on 7923 wells (15,200 formation picks, 37,357 coal picks, 495 coal analyses and 363 vitrinite reflectance measurements). From this parent dataset, individual coal zone was evaluated. This record describes the Lethbridge Coal Zone's calculated gas in place in BCF/Section.

The Provincial Obstacles to Fish Passage theme presents records of all known obstacles to fish passage from several fisheries datasets. Records from the following datasets have been included: The Fisheries Information Summary System (FISS); the Fish Habitat Inventory and Information Program (FHIIP); the Field Data Information System (FDIS) and the Resource Analysis Branch (RAB) inventory studies. The main intent of this layer is to have a single layer of all known obstacles to fish passage. It is important to note that not all waterbodies have been studied and, not all lengths of many waterbodies have been studied so there are a very high number of obstacles in the real world that are not recorded in this dataset. This layer simply reports the obstacles to fish that are known. It is also very important to note that we are acknowledging these features as obstacles to fish passage versus barriers to fish passage. This is because an obstacle may be a barrier at one time of year but not at other times depending on the volume of water present and also, what is a barrier to one species of fish is not necessarily a barrier to another species.

The Observed Habitat Lines show the various types of particular habitat that have been observed or calculated by biologists as well as an expectation of different species found in the habitats. Each bioarea has several observed habitats, and it is the combination of the bioarea and habitat observed number that identifies each unique observed habitat.