Abstract: The data represents an assessment of biodiversity risk for the agricultural area of Alberta in 2002. Biodiversity risk refers to the loss of biological diversity, or the variety of plant and animal life in agricultural landscapes. This map, created in ArcGIS, tries to show where biodiversity could be threatened, such as in areas with significant habitat that coincide with areas of greater agricultural economic activity. Biodiversity is believed to affect the overall health of the environment.
Metadata: 
  File identifier: 
      D5F221C6-F67B-4B7A-B6FC-A67CA3F1264A
  Language: 
    Language Code: 
      eng
  Character set: 
    Character set code: 
      utf8
  Hierarchy level: 
    Scope code: 
      dataset
  Metadata author: 
    Responsible party: 
      Organisation name: 
          Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development, Government of Alberta
      Position name: 
          Environmental Stewardship Branch, GIS Unit
      Contact info: 
        Contact: 
          Phone: 
            Telephone: 
              Voice: 
                  403-742-7901
          Address: 
            Address: 
              Delivery point: 
                  7000 – 113 St
              City: 
                  Edmonton
              Administrative area: 
                  Alberta
              Postal code: 
                  T6H 5T6
              Country: 
                Country: 
                  CA
              Electronic mail address: 
                  duke@gov.ab.ca
          Hours of service: 
              08:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday except for statutory holidays
          Contact instructions: 
              Questions regarding the metadata for this data set submitted through electronic mail must include the 
              salutation “Attention: Geographic Information Systems Lead
              (currently David Spiess, david.spiess@gov.ab.ca or in his absence: David Hildebrand, 
              david.hildebrand@gov.ab.ca; or Karen Raven, karen.raven@gov.ab.ca) – Biodiversity Risk”
      Role: 
        Role code: 
          publisher
  Date stamp: 

      2020-03-10
  Metadata standard name: 
      NAP - Metadata
  Metadata standard version: 
      1.2
  Dataset URI: 
      https://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex10342
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Reference system info:

Reference system: Reference system identifier: RS Identifier: Authority: Citation: Title: EPSG Geodetic Parameter Registry Date: Date: Date: 2016-07-13 Date type: Date type code: publication Cited responsible party: Responsible party: Organisation name: OGP Geomatics Committee Contact info: missing Role: Role code: custodian Code: 3400 Code Space: EPSG Version: 8.9.3
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Identification info:

Data identification: Citation: Citation: Title: Biodiversity Risk Date: Date: Date: 2005-09-01 Date type: Date type code: publication Cited responsible party: Responsible party: Organisation name: Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development, Government of Alberta Position name: Environmental Stewardship Branch, GIS Unit Contact info: Contact: Phone: Telephone: Voice: 403-742-7901 Address: Address: Delivery point: 7000 – 113 St City: Edmonton Administrative area: Alberta Postal code: T6H 5T6 Country: Country: CA Electronic mail address: duke@gov.ab.ca Hours of service: 08:00 to17:00 Monday to Friday except for statutory holidays Contact instructions: Queries about the creation and/or characteristics of the data set submitted through electronic mail must include the salutation "Attention: Geographic Information Systems Lead (currently David Spiess, david.spiess@gov.ab.ca or in his absence: David Hildebrand, david.hildebrand@gov.ab.ca; or Karen Raven, karen.raven@gov.ab.ca) – Biodiversity Risk” Role: Role code: originator Presentation form: Presentation form code: tableDigital Abstract: The data represents an assessment of biodiversity risk for the agricultural area of Alberta in 2002. Biodiversity risk refers to the loss of biological diversity, or the variety of plant and animal life in agricultural landscapes. This map, created in ArcGIS, tries to show where biodiversity could be threatened, such as in areas with significant habitat that coincide with areas of greater agricultural economic activity. Biodiversity is believed to affect the overall health of the environment. Purpose: This dataset was created in order to illustrate where biodiversity is at risk. A diverse ecosystem is better able to respond to environmental changes or stresses, such as floods, drought, pest and disease. The goal of maintaining biodiversity in agricultural landscapes may be more readily attained through prevention of further losses in areas less impacted by agriculture rather than through efforts to restore biodiversity in more heavily impacted areas. Agriculture has a significant influence on biodiversity because of its occurrence over a large portion of the landscape, the management intensity associated with modern methods of farming and the effects that some management practices have beyond the target area. However, agricultural land can play a positive role in the maintenance of biodiversity, especially in areas where there are competing and more disruptive land uses, such as urbanization. Conservation efforts can be enhanced by the adoption of management practices that encourage the integration of wild species within agricultural landscape. The preservation of non-crop habitats is important to the conservation potential of the agricultural lands. Sustainable farming can integrate the interests of agriculture and wildlife. Status: Progress code: completed Resource maintenance: Maintenance information: Maintenance and update frequency: Maintenance frequency code: asNeeded Descriptive keywords: Keywords: Keyword: Alberta Type: Keyword type code: place Descriptive keywords: Keywords: Keyword: Ecosystem diversity Keyword: Species diversity Keyword: Species at risk Keyword: Animals Keyword: Wildlife Keyword: Plants Type: Keyword type code: theme Thesaurus name: Citation: Title: Agrovoc Date: Date: Date: 2016-01-21 Date type: Date type code: revision Cited responsible party: missing Descriptive keywords: Keywords: Keyword: Downloadable Data Thesaurus name: uuidref: 723f6998-058e-11dc-8314-0800200c9a66 Resource constraints: Legal constraints: Use constraints: Restriction code: license Other constraints: Use of this information is governed by the terms of the Open Government Licence - Alberta. Information can be found at http://open.alberta.ca/licence Resource constraints: Legal constraints: Access constraints: Restriction code: otherRestrictions Other constraints: To access this data, users must agree to the terms of the Open Government Licence - Alberta found at http://open.alberta.ca/licence Resource constraints: Legal constraints: Use limitation: Distribution Liability: The Information Provider is not liable for any errors or omissions in the Information, and will not under any circumstances be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, or other loss, injury or damage caused by its use or otherwise arising in connection with this licence or the Information, even if specifically advised of the possibility of such loss, injury or damage. Refer to http://open.alberta.ca/licence Resource constraints: Security constraints: Classification: Classification code: unclassified User note: UNRESTRICTED under Government of Alberta Security Classification System Classification system: Government of Alberta Security Classification System Handling description: https://imtpolicy.sp.alberta.ca/standards/pdf/Data-and-Information-Security-Classification-Standard.pdf Spatial representation type: Spatial representation type code: vector Spatial resolution: Resolution: Equivalent scale: Representative fraction: Denominator: 3000000 Language: Language Code: eng Character set: Character set code: utf8 Topic category: Topic category code: environment Topic category: Topic category code: biota Environment description: Microsoft Windows 7 Version 6.1 (Build 7601) Service Pack 1; Esri ArcGIS 10.3.1.4959 Extent: Extent: Geographic element: Geographic bounding box: Extent type code: true West bound longitude: -120.50134 East bound longitude: -109.50517 South bound latitude: 47.601134 North bound latitude: 61.39605 Temporal element: Temporal extent: Extent: Time period: Begin date: 2002-01-01T00:00:00 End date: 2002-01-01T00:00:00 Extent: Extent: Geographic element: Geographic bounding box: Extent type code: true West bound longitude: -120.902378 East bound longitude: -108.461627 South bound latitude: 48.895441 North bound latitude: 60.097731
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DISTRIBUTION INFO:

Distribution: Distribution format: Format: Name: SDE Raster Dataset Version: 10.3.1 Distribution format: Format: Name: FGDB Version: ArcGIS 10.3.1 Distributor: Distributor: Distributor contact: Responsible party: Organisation name: Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development, Government of Alberta Position name: Environmental Stewardship Branch, GIS Unit Contact info: Contact: Phone: Telephone: Voice: 403-742-7901 Address: Address: Delivery point: 7000 – 113 St City: Edmonton Administrative area: Alberta Postal code: T6H 5T6 Country: Country: CA Electronic mail address: duke@gov.ab.ca Hours of service: 08:00-17:00 Monday to Friday except for statutory holidays Contact instructions: Queries about the distribution of the data set may be addressed to Geographic Information Systems Lead (currently David Spiess, david.spiess@gov.ab.ca or in his absence: David Hildebrand, david.hildebrand@gov.ab.ca; or Karen Raven, karen.raven@gov.ab.ca Role: Role code: distributor Distribution Order Process: Standard order process: Ordering instructions: A PDF of the map can be downloaded from Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development website at https://open.alberta.ca/publications/agricultural-land-resource-atlas-of-alberta-2nd-edition There are also KML and SHP files available for download through the online transfer options listed. Transfer options: Digital transfer options: Online: Online Resource: Linkage: URL: https://geospatial.alberta.ca/titan/rest/services/agriculture/Agricultural_Land_Resource_Atlas/MapServer/ Protocol: HTTPS Name: REST Online: Online Resource: Linkage: URL: https://geospatial.alberta.ca/titan/services/agriculture/agricultural_land_resource_atlas/MapServer/WMSServer Protocol: HTTPS Name: WMS Online: Online Resource: Linkage: URL: https://extranet.gov.ab.ca/srd/geodiscover/srd_pub/AG_FOR/LandResourceAtlas/Biodiversity_Risk.zip Protocol: FTP Name: Contains TIF and KMZ for Biodiversity Risk dataset
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Data quality info:

Data quality: Scope: Scope: Hierarchy level: Scope code: dataset Lineage: Lineage: Statement: Density of upland habitat, density of wetland habitat, density of waterways and species at risk data were specially combined with the wetland density index and as a result a biodiversity physical raster factors were created. An Economic Activity was calculated from 2001 Census of Agriculture data as the sum of total capital value, gross sales and total expenses for all farms in a SLC polygon, normalized to a per-area basis. The Economic Activity Index was multiplied by the biodiversity physical factors for each SLC polygon to create the biodiversity risk factor raster data. Process step: Process step: Description: A physical description of biodiversity was provided by four spatial databases regarded as acceptable surrogates on the subject: • Density of upland habitat – estimated from the landuse / landcover map prepared by Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) for the Western Grain Transportation Payments Program. For each Soil Landscapes of Canada (SLC) polygon, the percentage of land classified as trees, shrubs or grasslands was considered “upland habitat.” • Density of wetland habitat – estimated from the Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) wetland database. For each SLC polygon, the percentage of land identified as wetlands was considered “wetland habitat.” The database used satellite imagery acquired in early to late May from 1982 to 1987. Imagery from the month of May was used to capture spring conditions at their wettest. • Density of waterways – reported in linear kilometers per square kilometer of land in each SLC and used as a surrogate for riparian area density. Linear waterways were identified from the Alberta government’s Base Features Single Line Network map (1: 20 000 scale). • Species at risk – the number of natural habitat areas of species at risk, which overlap at any given location in the landscape, was used as a surrogate for the density of species at risk at that location. “Species at risk” is a term used by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) that includes plant and animal species that are either extirpated, endangered, threatened or a species of special concern. Individual COSEWIC 2002 Species Range Maps were downloaded from the COSEWIC website. These four maps were converted to a 0 to 1 ranking and spatially added together with the wetland density index given a double weighting. A physical factors map with a range of values from 1 to 6 was the result. SLC Version 1.9 was used for this map. SLC polygons were created using existing soil survey information. Each polygon is described by a standard set of soil and land attributes that characterizes the soil landscapes found in each SLC polygon. Soils, landscapes and climate are the key natural resource factors that determine agricultural productivity, and the farms within a soil landscape unit usually have similar production characteristics. Date and time: 2004-01-07T00:00:00 Source: Source: Description: Landuse / landcover map prepared by Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) for the Western Grain Transportation Payments Program Source citation: Citation: Title: Upland Habitat Density Ranking of Alberta Date: Date: Date: 2003-12-10 Date type: Date type code: publication Cited responsible party: missing Source: Source: Description: A series of GIS coverages that show the major characteristics of soil and land for Canada. Source citation: Citation: Title: Soil Landscapes of Canada Date: Date: Date: 1991-01-01 Date type: Date type code: publication Cited responsible party: missing Source: Source: Description: Wetland density ranking of Alberta configured from the Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) wetlaland database Source citation: Citation: Title: Canadian Wetland Inventory Date: Date: Date: 2016-01-01 Date type: Date type code: revision Cited responsible party: Responsible party: Organisation name: Ducks Unlimited Canada Contact info: missing Role: Role code: originator Source extent: Extent: Description: Data was colelcted in early to late May for the five year time period. Temporal element: Temporal extent: Extent: Time period: Begin date: 1982-05-01T00:00:00 End date: 1987-05-01T00:00:00 Source: Source: Description: Linear kilometers per square kilometer of land of linear waterways identified from the Alberta government’s Base Features Single Line Network map. Source citation: Citation: Title: Waterway Density Map Date: Date: Date: 2003-12-10 Date type: Date type code: publication Cited responsible party: missing Source: Source: Description: The number of natural habitat areas of species at risk, which overlap at any given location in the landscape Source citation: Citation: Title: Species at Risk Density Ranking of Alberta Date: Date: Date: 2003-12-10 Date type: Date type code: publication Cited responsible party: missing
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Metadata maintenance:

Maintenance information: Maintenance and update frequency: Maintenance frequency code: notPlanned
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