The Peat Application Area dataset depicts available land which may contain peat resources, and the requirement of a peat application in Alberta. Areas where peat exploration is not allowed due to environmental concerns such as the presence of waterbodies and rivers, trumpeter swan lakes, parks and protected areas, key wildlife and biodiversity areas, caribou zones, and HUC 8 watersheds with bull trout and arctic grayling were removed. This generalized product represents areas where a peat harvesting application can be submitted.

Geospatial resources provided by N-Tech.

The Air and Watershed Resource Management Contacts and Boundaries dataset is comprised of all the polygons that represent the Air and Watershed Stewardship districts and the manager to contact with questions or concerns about environmental framework implementation and management response. This dataset was created to lend support to the Regulatory Assurance Division.

Web Feature Service provided by N-Tech

The Aquifer Vulnerability Index (AVI) is a method of assessing the vulnerability of aquifers to surface contaminants in Alberta. An aquifer is a geological formation that is permeable enough to transmit sufficient quantities of water to possible to support the development of water wells. In the assessment of aquifer vulnerability to potential contamination, the depth to the aquifer and the types of geological materials above them are considered. For example, aquifers closer to the surface overlain with pervious surface materials are more vulnerable to contaminants, as compared to aquifers found deeper and covered with a thick layer of impervious material. The AVI ratings indicate the potential of surficial materials to transmit water withy contaminants to the aquifer over a period of time. This data was created in 2002 using ArcGIS.

A Crown land reservation is a tool under Section 18(c) of the Public Lands Act, to identify a management intent that will inform and provide direction to potential land users and regulatory bodies as authorized under the Public Lands Act. A reservation is not a disposition, does not grant any rights to public land or rights to access or occupy public land or rights to the resources on the land or under it. The Crown Land Reservations dataset displays reservations under application or active with their associated data attributes allowing users to view and access existing or proposed reservation information that could influence their application if a proposed activity intersects. More information can be found at www.alberta.ca/land-use-reservation-program.aspx

The data represents the density of wetland habitat in the agricultural region of Alberta in 2002. Wetlands are depressional areas that are wet for a long enough period that the plant and animals living in them are adapted to, and often dependent on, living in wet conditions for at least part of their life cycle. In drier areas of the province, wetlands tend to be more intermittent, while in wetter areas, wetlands tend to be more persistent. Topography also affects the occurrence of wetlands. Hummocky landscapes allow for pooling of water in depressions, while landscapes with longer slopes (e.g. the foothills) generally have better defined surface drainage patterns. A wetland in influenced by the interaction between the wet area, the wetland margin and upland area.Wetlands provide important habitat for waterfowl and many other types of wildlife. Wetlands reduce the impact of flooding, provide erosion control, purify water by removing sediment and nutrients, and contribute to groundwater recharge. This resource was created using ArcGIS.

The data represents the relative cultivation intensity in the agricultural area of Alberta. Cultivation intensity refers to the frequency of cultivation associated with the following management systems: no till, conventional tillage and summerfallow. It is an estimate of the degree to which cultivation contributes to wind and water erosion. The classes shown on the map are ranked between 0 (lowest) and 1 (highest).This map was created in 2002 using ArcGIS.

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.

Alberta Environment and Protected Areas developed an Interior habitat indicator for the province of Alberta. The indicator is the percentage area outside of a set distance from human footprint, and can be calculated for the entire province or a specific area where human footprint data are available. This dataset provides values for all Hydrologic Unit Code 8 (HUC 8) watersheds in Alberta for 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2018. The distance at which an area was considered interior habitat was estimated using rounded buffers from the edges of the wall-to-wall Human Footprint Inventories produced by the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI).