Ecological Land Classification (ELC) is an approach which endeavours to subdivide the landscape into significant ecological units and to organize complex interrelationships into identified geographical areas with similar properties. It is a hierarchical system that captures information at the following scales as per the Ecological Land Classification and Evaluation Reference Manual (1980): Ecoprovince - >1:3 000 000 Ecoregion - 1:1 000 000 - 1:3 000 000 Ecodistrict - 1:250 000 - 1:1 000 000 Ecosection - 1:100 000 - 1:250 000 Ecosite - 1:10 000 - 1:20 000 Ecoelement - 1:1 000 - 1:5 000. Note that the upper two levels are referred to as Natural Region and Natural Subregion in the more recent Ecological Land Classification reports. There are also some variations in this hierarchy for individual study areas. The data is available as TIFF image files packaged together with the reports and other supporting documents divided alphabetically.

This dataset is produced for the Government of Alberta and is available to the general public. Please consult the Distribution Information of this metadata for the appropriate contact to acquire this dataset. The Ecological Land Classification (ELC) Status is a supporting dataset to the Ecological Land Classification dataset. The ELC Status represents a geodatabase feature class of the ELC study areas. There is attribution to describe the scale of the study, whether there is a scanned report (.pdf), scanned map (.tif) or GIS-ready feature class available.

Please note that this is the v1.0 version of DEP. a new version (v2.0) supercedes this dataset. The Derived Ecosite Phase (DEP) is a digital and spatial representation of ecological sites and phases in those areas of Alberta where both Alberta Vegetation Inventory (AVI) and LiDAR are available. The AVI is an imagery-based digital inventory developed to identify the type, extent and conditions of vegetation, where it exists and what changes are occurring. The most up-to-date ecological site phases can be found in the Plant Community Guides. Guides are broken into individual Natural Subregions. See the Cross Reference Section for additional information. This dataset is produced for the Government of Alberta and is available to the general public. Please consult the Distribution Information of this metadata for the appropriate contact to acquire this dataset.This dataset covers the areas of Alberta where there is both AVI and LiDAR coverage (mainly in the Green Area). AVIE and LiDAR-derived slope position were created by the Forest Resource Analysis Section, Forest Management Branch, Agriculture and Forestry. Rules used to classify the data were developed by the Range Resource Stewardship Section, Land Policy Branch, Environment and Parks.

Derived Ecosite Phase (DEP) v2.0 is a digital and spatial representation of ecological sites and phases in those areas of Alberta where both Alberta Vegetation Inventory (AVI) and lidar are available. The AVI is an imagery-based digital inventory developed to identify the type, extent and conditions of vegetation, where it exists and what changes are occurring. The most up-to-date ecological site phases can be found in the Ecological Site Guides. Guides are broken into individual Natural Subregions. See the Cross Reference Section for additional information. This dataset is produced for the Government of Alberta and is available to the general public. Please consult the Distribution Information of this metadata for the appropriate contact to acquire this dataset.This dataset covers the areas of Alberta where there is both AVI and lidar coverage (mainly in the Green Area). AVIE and lidar-derived slope position were created by the Forest Stewardship and Trade Branch, Forestry Division, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. Rules used to classify the data were developed by the Rangeland Conservation and Stewardship Branch, Lands Division, Alberta Environment and Parks.

The Primary Land and Vegetation Inventory (PLVI) is a photo-based digital inventory developed to identify the type, extent and conditions of vegetation in the forested and parkland areas of the province of Alberta. This includes portions of both the Green and White areas of the province. It will include areas of the province extending north from the extent of the Grassland Vegetation Inventory (GVI) and will include areas where the detail and expense of Alberta Vegetation Inventory (AVI) are not warranted, or time and resources are limiting constraints. Ecological site phase (ecosite phase) is the main level of classification used in PLVI. A polygon may be attributed with up to 3 ecological site phases, depending on complexity and extent. PLVI captures range site attributes only within the Central Parkland Natural Subregion. The most up to date ecological site phases can be found in the Plant Community Guides. Guides are broken into individual Natural Subregions. See the Cross Reference Section for additional information. This dataset is produced for the Government of Alberta and is available to the general public. Please consult the Distribution Information of this metadata for the appropriate contact to acquire this dataset.

The SCA Map of Alberta reflects the integration of inherent agroclimatic conditions that exist across Alberta with soil development, use and management practices. The SCA boundaries coincide to a large degree with recognized climate zones in Alberta. These boundaries also generally agree with accepted ecoregion boundaries. In the agricultural portion of Alberta, SCA's correlate strongly with soil zone lines with further subdivisions reflecting recognized agroclimate zones.

This dataset is produced for the Government of Alberta and is available to the general public. Please consult the Distribution Information of this metadata for the appropriate contact to acquire this dataset. Riparian areas consist of the lands adjacent to streams, rivers, wetlands and lakes that are strongly influenced by the presence of water. They are often distinct from the surrounding landscape as the vegetation growth is very lush. These areas form a transition between dry land and open water and are characterized by the presence of hydrophilic vegetation and specific soil types. Riparian areas are usually very productive in terms of biomass and form critical wildlife habitat. These areas often have standing water and are subjected to periodic flooding when high water levels fill the stream channel to the top of the bank. The term 'riparian' is derived from the Latin word for river bank. Riparian areas provide valuable food, shelter and travel corridors as well as close proximity to a water source for wildlife and livestock. These zones are often densely vegetated and serve as stabilization against the erosive forces associated with lotic systems. Riparian areas provide filtration for surface runoff from the surrounding land and protect the water quality of flowing streams. They trap sediment and reduce the velocity of stream flow, thus reducing erosion in downstream areas. These areas provide detritus to their associated aquatic systems as well as a moderating effect on surface temperatures. This riparian mapping project is intended to provide a geodatabase feature class of potential riparian areas associated with lotic features (streams and rivers) using the hydrologically corrected provincial digital elevation model as a base. Potential riparian areas associated with lentic features (wetlands and lakes) are not being captured at this time but wide rivers and lakes with flow through must be taken into consideration in order to give a more accurate representation of riparian areas. Isolated lakes are not included and no allowance for cultivated lands has been made.

This dataset is produced for the Government of Alberta and is available to the general public. Please consult the Distribution Information of this metadata for the appropriate contact to acquire this dataset. Riparian areas consist of the lands adjacent to streams, rivers, wetlands and lakes that are strongly influenced by the presence of water. They are often distinct from the surrounding landscape as the vegetation growth is very lush. These areas form a transition between dry land and open water and are characterized by the presence of hydrophilic vegetation and specific soil types. Riparian areas are usually very productive in terms of biomass and form critical wildlife habitat. Additionally, these areas often have standing water and are subjected to periodic flooding when high water levels fill the stream channel to the top of the bank. The term 'riparian' is derived from the Latin word for river bank. Riparian areas provide valuable food, shelter and travel corridors as well as an adjacent water source for wildlife and livestock. These zones are often densely vegetated and serve as stabilization against the erosive forces associated with lotic systems. Riparian areas provide filtration for surface runoff from the surrounding land and protect the water quality of flowing streams. They trap sediment and reduce the velocity of stream flow, thus reducing erosion in downstream areas. These areas provide detritus to their associated aquatic systems as well as a moderating effect on surface temperatures. The function of riparian areas in the landscape is regarded to be sufficiently critical that they are given special consideration in terms of the impact assessment resulting from human activities such as recreation, logging, oil and gas exploration, road construction and range management. Informatics Branch of Alberta Environment and Parks, Government of Alberta has been assigned the task of developing a provincial map of riparian areas. This project represents the initial effort to map riparian areas for the province. The riparian areas map is intended as input into ALCES (A Landscape Cumulative Effects Simulator), which is software developed by Forem Technologies. ALCES is being used to project the cumulative effects of various types of human activity on the landscape. This is accomplished by generating aspatial snapshots of regions within the provincial landscape and assuming that the current level of human impact continues. The methodology involved creating variable buffers by Natural Region based on Strahler Order coding for streams that had been merged with the associated perennial lakes. Higher Strahler Order codes were associated with wider buffers and drier Natural Regions were associated with narrower buffers. The result was a geodatabase of polygons that were intended to represent potential lotic riparian areas but the accuracy was poor. Landsat information and the Base Features Digital Elevation Model were incorporated to a minimal degree as refinements to the coverage but did not result in any improvement in the spatial accuracy of the data. This dataset is not recommended for use in riparian analysis. The Lotic Riparian - Digital Elevation Model Derived dataset, which was released in October 2011, is a better representation of the location and extent of riparian areas.