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.

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 Fish Management Zone dataset is comprised of all the polygons that represent the Fish Management Zones in Alberta. Fish Management Zone is an area having its own unique assemblage of water bodies, species of game fish and management regimes.

This project generated unique numerical codes at the pixel level to provide wall-to-wall coverage of 128 unique Catchment Structural Units (CSUs) codes based on land use-land cover (LULC), surficial geology, wetlands and slope across the Province. The Provincial CSU layer represents the quantification of combined structural influences at an individual pixel scale, as expressed by a specific numeric and text code. These codes reflect the geospatial layers used to represent catchment structure. The CSU data is presented at a pixel resolution of 20 x 20 m and five initial structural layers (i.e., land cover, land use, surficial geology, wetlands and slope). This resolution was chosen to balance detail with computational efficiency. Each class within the structural layers were assigned unique numeric codes of different orders of magnitude.

This map displays an assessment of surface water quality risk for the agricultural area of Alberta. Agricultural activities that may have an impact on surface water quality, including livestock, crop production and agrochemical use, were identified and used to produce this map. The classes shown on the map were ranked from 0 (lowest risk) to 1 (highest risk).This resource was created in 2002 using ArcGIS.

The Watershed Planning and Advisory Councils (WPAC) boundaries contained in this dataset are an approximate representation of the WPAC planning areas in Alberta. The actual boundary used by individual WPACs may differ from what is contained in this data.These boundaries were derived from the Drainage Basins of Alberta and contain all currently designated WPACs and one yet to be established for the combined Peace and Slave River basins. This data is available to Government of Alberta staff via Layer Manager. For other access to the data, please contact the distributor.

This dataset is produced for the Government of Alberta and is available to the general public. Please consult the Distribution Information of this metadata on how to acquire this dataset. The Grassland Vegetation Inventory (GVI) represents the Government of Alberta's comprehensive biophysical, anthropogenic and land-use inventory of the southernmost portion of the province's White Area. The compilation of the inventory commenced in 2006 in the southeast corner of the province using digital colour-infrared stereo photography. Data capture has proceeded north and west. The Grassland Vegetation Inventory is intended as an update to the Native Prairie Vegetation Inventory (NPVI) that was completed circa 1993. The Grassland Vegetation Inventory product is a more comprehensive and detailed geospatial representation of land cover that is intended to meet a multitude of business needs integral to land-use planning and management in Alberta. The Grassland Vegetation Inventory is a biophysical and land-use inventory rather than a purely vegetation inventory. It is comprised of ecological range sites based on soils information for areas of native vegetation and general land use for areas of non-native vegetation, namely those associated with agricultural, industrial, and residential developments. Landscape Polygons are the basic map units in the Grassland Vegetation Inventory digital product. These polygons represent interpretations of relatively uniform biophysical or anthropogenic areas. The characteristics of Landscape Polygons are captured as records in the Sites table. The Grassland Vegetation Inventory site type classification is captured under the Site Types column in the Sites table to a maximum of four site types per Landscape Polygon. The Grassland Vegetation Inventory site types and their associated information plus the data capture methodology are described in the Grassland Vegetation Inventory Specifications. Grassland Vegetation Inventory projects were initially funded under the Base Data Acquisition component of the Land-use Framework program, which represents the Alberta Government's comprehensive and integrated approach to land use planning and management. The primary funding agency is Alberta Environment and Parks. The GVI data, index map, status map, views and specifications documents are available from Alberta Environment and Parks, Government of Alberta.

Base Hydrography Update Index depicts the extent of the current HUC 8 (Hydrologic Unit Code) watersheds completed in 2018-2021.

The data represents the relative expense of farm chemicals (herbicides, insecticides and fungicides) in the agricultural area of Alberta. It is an estimate of the degree to which crop production agriculture may contribute to surface or groundwater contamination.Agriculture production that makes greater use of herbicides, insecticides and pesticides in generally considered more intensive. Presenting the relative farm chemical expenses by SLC polygons reveals where the most intensive agricultural production in the province occurs. Chemical use is part of an equation to determine a measure of surface water quality risk. If an area is known to have certain risk factors that would affect not only surface, but groundwater quality as well, a higher chemical expense index ranking in that same area may be of concern. Where risks of surface or groundwater contamination exist, environmental farm planning can help to minimize them.

The Single Line Hydrography Network (SLNET) contains all captured single line representations of hydrographic features. In addition, single line representations of polygonal features and single line arbitrary network connectors are in the file.