An ecoprovince is an area with consistent climatic or oceanography, relief and regional landforms. There one oceanic, two marine / terrestrial and seven terrestrial ecoprovinces occurring within British Columbia. Ecoprovinces are meant to be mapped at 1:2,000,000 for use in provincial state of the environment reporting

Ecodivisions are areas of broad climatic and physiographic uniformity, defined at the continental level.

An ecoregion is an area with major physiographic and minor macroclimatic or oceanographic variation. There are 43 ecoregion in British Columbia of which 39 are terrestrial. Ecodivsions are meant to be mapped at 1:500,000 for regional strategic planning

Ecodomains are areas broad climatic uniformity, defined at the global level

Ecosections are areas with minor physiographic and macroclimatic or oceanographic variations. There are 114 ecosections in British Columbia varying from pure marine units to pure terrestrial units. Ecosections are meant to be mapped at small scales (1:250,000) for resource emphasis and area planning

Terrestrial Ecosystem Mapping (TEM) Detailed Polygons (STE_TEM_ATTRIBUTE_POLYS_SVW) contains TEM inventory polygons with key and amalgamated (concatenated) attributes derived from the Resource Inventory Standards Committee (RISC) standard attributes. This layer is derived from the [STE_TEI_ATTRIBUTE_POLYS_SP](https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/f2cd2cc3-5f58-481c-bf3c-64934acb6fad) layer by filtering on the PROJECT_TYPE attribute. Project types include: TEM, NEM, TEMNSS, NEMNSS, TEMPRE, NEMPRE, TEMSEI, TEMSET, TEMTSM, TEMWHR, TEMSDM, TEMPRW, NEMPRW, NEMSEI and NEMWHR. TEM divides the landscape into units according to a variety of ecological features including climate, physiography, surficial material, bedrock geology, soils and vegetation. TEM methods include manual air photo interpretation supported by selective field checking. TEM Detailed Polygons should be used in conjunction with [TEM Project Boundaries](https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/b6b86630-26c0-4b6d-a4b0-6633d7f00c7a) which contain boundaries (study areas) and attributes describing each project (project level metadata), plus links to the locations of other data associated with the project (e.g., reports, polygon datasets, plotfiles, legends). TEM inventory polygons with full RISC attributes can be accessed through the [Terrestrial Ecosystem Information (TEI) Data Distribution Packages](https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/8fd15e4e-e7b1-4566-81d1-1ff8947bfd46). **Current version**: v12 (2026-06-22)

Terrestrial Ecosystem Mapping (TEM) Project Boundaries (STE_TEM_PROJECT_BOUNDARIES_SVW) contains boundaries (study areas) and attributes describing each TEM project (project level metadata), plus links to the locations of other data associated with the project (e.g., reports, polygon datasets, plotfiles, field data, legends). This layer is derived from the [STE_TEI_PROJECT_BOUNDARIES_SP](https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/1313fac7-2ea1-4c6b-995b-bd421b7ec3c6) layer by filtering on the PROJECT_TYPE attribute. Project Types include: TEM, NEM, TEMNSS, NEMNSS, TEMPRE, NEMPRE, TEMSEI, TEMSET, TEMTSM, TEMWHR, TEMSDM, TEMPRW, NEMPRW, and NEMSEI. TEM project boundaries should be used in conjunction with TEM detailed inventory polygons which divide the landscape into units according to a variety of ecological features including climate, physiography, surficial material, bedrock geology, soils and vegetation. TEM inventory polygons with full Resources Information Standards Committee (RISC) attributes can be accessed through the [Terrestrial Ecosystem Information (TEI) Data Distribution Packages](https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/8fd15e4e-e7b1-4566-81d1-1ff8947bfd46). TEM inventory polygons with simplified and amalgamated (concatenated) RISC attributes can be accessed through the [Terrestrial Ecosystem Mapping (TEM) Detailed Polygons with Short Table Attribute Table Spatial View](https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/0a83163b-a62f-4ce6-a9a1-21c228b0c0a3). **Current version**: v12 (2026-06-22)

Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) and Wildlife Habitat Ratings (WHR) project boundaries (STE_WLD_PROJECT_BOUNDARIES_SVW) contain boundaries (study areas) and attributes describing each project (project level metadata), plus links to the locations of other data associated with the project (e.g. reports, WHR polygon datasets, plotfiles). This layer is derived from the [STE_TEI_PROJECT_BOUNDARIES_SP](https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/1313fac7-2ea1-4c6b-995b-bd421b7ec3c6) layer by filtering on the PROJECT_TYPE attribute. Project types include: WHR, SDM, PEMWHR, PEMSDM, TEMWHR, TEMSDM, TEMPRW, NEMPRW, BEIWHR, BEISDM, SEIWHR, SDM, SOILSW, BEMWHR and NEMWHR. SDM and WHR project boundaries should be used in conjunction with SDM and WHR detailed inventory polygons. SDM predicts the suitability of different environments for occupation by particular species, and the likelihood that those suitable habitats are occupied. WHR are also known as wildlife habitat interpretations and most commonly use TEM data as a means to identify specific habitats. SDM and WHR inventory polygons with full Resources Information Standards Committee (RISC) attributes can be accessed through the [Terrestrial Ecosystem Information (TEI) Data Distribution Packages](https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/8fd15e4e-e7b1-4566-81d1-1ff8947bfd46). **Current version**: v12 (2026-06-22)

Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory (SEI) Detailed Polygons (STE_SEI_ATTRIBUTE_POLYS_SVW) contains SEI inventory polygons with key and amalgamated (concatenated) attributes derived from the Resource Inventory Standards Committee (RISC) standard attributes. This layer is derived from the [STE_TEI_ATTRIBUTE_POLYS_SP](https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/f2cd2cc3-5f58-481c-bf3c-64934acb6fad) layer by filtering on the PROJECT_TYPE attribute. Project types include: SEI, TEMSEI, TEMSET, SEIWHR and NEMSEI. SEI identifies and maps rare and fragile terrestrial ecosystems. Ecosystems mapped may include (but are not limited to) older forests, woodlands, coastal bluffs, herbaceous and sparsely vegetated ecosystems, grasslands, riparian ecosystems and wetlands. SEI methods include manual air photo interpretation or theming of other Ecosystem Mapping, each supported by selective field checking. SEI Detailed Polygons should be used in conjunction with [SEI Project Boundaries](https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/5a5680fa-29e0-4ad2-b2ce-ff0dabc1f666) which contain boundaries (study areas) and attributes describing each project (project level metadata), plus links to the locations of other data associated with the project (e.g., reports, polygon datasets, plotfiles, legends). SEI inventory polygons with full RISC attributes can be accessed through the [Terrestrial Ecosystem Information (TEI) Data Distribution Packages](https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/8fd15e4e-e7b1-4566-81d1-1ff8947bfd46). **Current version**: v12 (2026-06-22)

STE_TEM_20K_POLYS_SVW contains Terrestrial Ecosystem Mapping (TEM) polygons with key and amalgamated (concatenated) attributes derived from the RISC (Resource Inventory Standards Committee) standard attributes completed at a scale of 1 to 20 000. TEM divides the landscape into units according to a variety of ecological features including climate, physiography, surficial material, bedrock geology, soils and vegetation. TEM methods include manual air photo interpretation supported by selective field checking. This layer is derived from the STE_TEI_ATTRIBUTE_POLYS_SP layer by filtering on the PROJECT_TYPE and PROJECT_MAP_SCALE attributes. Project types include: TEM, NEM, TEMNSS, NEMNSS, TEMPRE, NEMPRE, TEMSEI, TEMSET, TEMTSM, TEMWHR, TEMSDM, TEMPRW, NEMPRW, and TEMSEW. Project map scale equals 20000. Current version: v11 (published on 2024-10-03) Previous versions: v10 (published on 2023-11-14), v9 (published on 2023-03-01), v8 (published on 2016-09-01)