Produced as part of the St. Lawrence Action Plan, the Atlas of Territories of Interest for Conservation in the St. Lawrence Lowlands shows the sites where conservation needs are the most pressing. The conservation targets selected (coarse filter) are forest environments, wetlands, open environments (wastelands, perennial crops) and aquatic environments to which are added elements of the fine filter such as exceptional aquatic environments associated with the St. Lawrence corridor (e.g. spawning grounds), alvars, bird colonies, wildlife elements (e.g. nesting sites of Bank Swallows and Chimney Swift, etc.) and important floristic occurrences. Our objective is to determine the sites of interest until a representative threshold of 20% is reached. The geospatial data associated with sites of interest for conservation, the user guide, the methodological report, the metadata as well as the detailed mapping of land use in the St. Lawrence Lowlands, which was an essential basic data for producing this atlas, are available for download. Users can therefore more accurately consult the spatial distribution of sites of interest and the conservation value associated with each plot of habitat for conservation targets (forest environments, wetlands, wastelands, perennial crops, aquatic environments) using geographic information systems (e.g. ArcGIS). Users can also adapt the analysis of this data to their territorial reality and according to specific objectives specific to their interests. Since the conservation of natural environments and species in precarious situations is a shared responsibility, this Atlas will make it possible to meet the priorities of the many organizations involved in the conservation of natural environments in the St. Lawrence Lowlands.**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

The theme of land use offers a complete vision of the various uses of Quebec territory. It is the result of the assembly of various geographic data respecting use and distribution agreements. This product combines information on agricultural, forest, humid, humid, aquatic, anthropogenic environments, as well as on forest cuts and bare soils. This theme is based on data sources such as the ecoforest inventory of southern Quebec, agricultural databases and ecological maps. The accuracy of the product depends on the accuracy of the source layers. To access the files, which are hosted on an FTP server, it is recommended to use FileZilla (https://filezilla-project.org/) or Internet Explorer.**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

Since 1988, the governments of Canada and Quebec have been working together to conserve, restore, protect and develop the St. Lawrence River under the St. Lawrence Action Plan (SLAP). One of the projects identified under the theme of biodiversity conservation is the development of an integrated plan for the conservation of the natural environments and biodiversity of the St. Lawrence River. The identification of priority sites for conservation has been the first step of this planning exercise. Conservation planning of natural environments requires a reliable, accurate and up-to-date image of the spatial distribution of ecosystems in the study area. In order to produce an Atlas of Priority Sites for Conservation in the St. Lawrence Lowlands, an updated cartography of the land cover of this vast territory was undertaken. This project required obtaining reliable information on the natural environments of the St. Lawrence Lowlands. Although several land cover mapping projects have been conducted for specific types of habitats, it was particularly important to obtain a homogeneous product that would cover the entire territory and that would provide the most detailed information on its various thematic components: agricultural, aquatic, human-modified and forest environments, wetlands as well as old fields and bare ground. The methodology used to produce the land cover mapping of the St. Lawrence Lowlands thus relied mainly on combining and enhancing the best existing products for each theme. This project was made in collaboration with MDDELCC as part of the St. Lawrence Action Plan (SLAP).