Abstract: The Riparian Areas Assessment of the Swan River Watershed focused on assessing riparian habitat along creek, stream and river shorelines. This dataset was created for the Lesser Slave Water Council as a part of a large scale riparian area assessment in Alberta. The overall goal of this project was to quantify and characterize the riparian habitat management in the Lesser Slave Lake watershed by assessing riparian areas along approximately 582 km of shoreline. The riparian areas that were assessed were located within the Swan River watershed (HUC 8) and included the left and right banks of the Swan, Moosehorn and Inverness Rivers. This study created a recent land cover layer within 50 m of selected shorelines and use this layer to assess the intactness of riparian areas along major waterbodies. It also provided guidance on how the results from the intactness assessments can be used to target conservation and restoration efforts within along the shorelines that were assessed as part of the study.
Metadata: 
  File identifier: 
      BE495026-077C-4362-B216-A939BA04AE74
  Language: 
    Language Code: 
      eng
  Character set: 
    Character set code: 
      utf8
  Hierarchy level: 
    Scope code: 
      dataset
  Metadata author: 
    Responsible party: 
      Organisation name: 
          Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, Government of Alberta
      Position name: 
          Lands Planning Branch, Lands Division
      Contact info: 
        Contact: 
          Address: 
            Address: 
              Delivery point: 
                  3rd Floor, South Petroleum Plaza
              Delivery point: 
                  9915 108 Street
              City: 
                  Edmonton
              Administrative area: 
                  Alberta
              Postal code: 
                  T5K 2G8
              Country: 
                Country: 
                  CA
              Electronic mail address: 
                  EPA.Planning@gov.ab.ca
      Role: 
        Role code: 
          publisher
  Date stamp: 

      2024-10-17
  Metadata standard name: 
      NAP - Metadata
  Metadata standard version: 
      1.2
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Reference system info:

Reference system: Reference system identifier: RS Identifier: Code: 3400 Code Space: EPSG
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Identification info:

Data identification: Citation: Citation: Title: Project Returns for Riparian Area Assessment of the Swan River Watershed Date: Date: Date: 2023-11-20 Date type: Date type code: creation Date: Date: Date: 2024-10-14 Date type: Date type code: publication Cited responsible party: Responsible party: Organisation name: Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, Government of Alberta Position name: Lands Planning Branch, Lands Division Contact info: Contact: Address: Address: Delivery point: 3rd Floor, South Petroleum Plaza Delivery point: 9915 108 Street City: Edmonton Administrative area: Alberta Postal code: T5K 2G8 Country: Country: CA Electronic mail address: EPA.Planning@gov.ab.ca Role: Role code: originator Abstract: The Riparian Areas Assessment of the Swan River Watershed focused on assessing riparian habitat along creek, stream and river shorelines. This dataset was created for the Lesser Slave Water Council as a part of a large scale riparian area assessment in Alberta. The overall goal of this project was to quantify and characterize the riparian habitat management in the Lesser Slave Lake watershed by assessing riparian areas along approximately 582 km of shoreline. The riparian areas that were assessed were located within the Swan River watershed (HUC 8) and included the left and right banks of the Swan, Moosehorn and Inverness Rivers. This study created a recent land cover layer within 50 m of selected shorelines and use this layer to assess the intactness of riparian areas along major waterbodies. It also provided guidance on how the results from the intactness assessments can be used to target conservation and restoration efforts within along the shorelines that were assessed as part of the study. Purpose: This GIS-based assessment method allows for a general assessment of riparian condition for stream and lake shorelines using land cover layers derived from satellite data, thereby allowing for the mapping and assessment of riparian habitats over large spatial extents. The approach provides an overview of the status of riparian health at the watershed scale, which allows land managers to direct restoration activities, management efforts, and financial resources towards the areas where there is the greatest need. Credit: Fiera Biological Consulting Ltd; Lesser Slave Watershed Council; Watershed Planning and Advisory Councils; Watershed Resiliency and Restoration Program Status: Progress code: completed Point of contact: Responsible party: Organisation name: Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, Government of Alberta Position name: Lands Planning Branch, Lands Division Contact info: Contact: Address: Address: Delivery point: 3rd Floor, South Petroleum Plaza Delivery point: 9915 108 Street City: Edmonton Administrative area: Alberta Postal code: T5K 2G8 Country: Country: CA Electronic mail address: EPA.Planning@gov.ab.ca Role: Role code: pointOfContact Resource maintenance: Maintenance information: Maintenance and update frequency: Maintenance frequency code: notPlanned Descriptive keywords: Keywords: Keyword: Alberta, Canada Keyword: Swan River Keyword: Moosehorn River Keyword: Inverness River Keyword: Lesser Slave Lake Type: Keyword type code: place Descriptive keywords: Keywords: Keyword: Riparian intactness Keyword: Watershed Keyword: Land cover Keyword: Riparian management area Keyword: Shoreline assessment Type: Keyword type code: theme Resource constraints: Legal constraints: Access constraints: Restriction code: otherRestrictions Other constraints: Your use of this information will be governed by the terms of the Open Government Licence - Alberta, in force as of the date you accessed the information, found at https://open.alberta.ca/licence Resource constraints: Legal constraints: Use constraints: Restriction code: license Other constraints: Your use of this information will be governed by the terms of the Open Government Licence - Alberta, in force as of the date you accessed the information, found at https://open.alberta.ca/licence Resource constraints: Legal constraints: Use limitation: Distribution Liability: Under the terms of the Open Government Licence - Alberta, the Information is licensed as is, and the Information Provider excludes all representations, warranties, obligations, and liabilities, whether express or implied, to the maximum extent permitted by law. 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. Resource constraints: Security constraints: Classification: Classification code: unclassified User note: Public/Unrestricted Classification system: Government of Alberta Data and Information Security Classification Handling description: https://imtpolicy.sp.alberta.ca/standards/Pages/Data-and-Information-Security-Classification.aspx Aggregation Info: AggregateInformation: Aggregate Data Set Name: Citation: Title: Riparian Area Assessment of the Swan River System Final Report Date: Date: Date: 2024-01-01 Date type: Date type code: publication Cited responsible party: Responsible party: Organisation name: Fiera Biological Consulting Ltd. Role: Role code: publisher Association Type: Association type code: crossReference Language: Language Code: eng Character set: Character set code: utf8 Topic category: Topic category code: biota Topic category: Topic category code: environment Extent: Extent: Geographic element: Geographic bounding box: West bound longitude: -115.88286 East bound longitude: -115.28277 South bound latitude: 54.744222 North bound latitude: 55.430348
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DISTRIBUTION INFO:

Distribution: Distribution format: Format: Name: File Geodatabase Version: 3.0 Specification: FGDB File decompression technique: ZIP Distributor: Distributor: Distributor contact: Responsible party: Organisation name: Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, Government of Alberta Position name: Provincial Geospatial Centre Contact info: Contact: Phone: Telephone: Voice: 7804277374 Facsimile: 7804220712 Address: Address: Delivery point: 14th Floor, Oxbridge Place Delivery point: 9820 - 106 Street NW City: Edmonton Administrative area: Alberta Postal code: T5K 2J6 Country: Country: CA Electronic mail address: PGC.Data@gov.ab.ca Role: Role code: distributor Transfer options: Digital transfer options: Units of distribution: MB Transfer size: 5 Online: Online Resource: Linkage: URL: https://extranet.gov.ab.ca/srd/geodiscover/srd_pub/environment/RiparianAssessment/SRW_RiparianAssessment.zip Protocol: FTP Name: Riparian Area Assessment of the Swan River Watershed (FGDB) Description: FGDB containing Riparian Area Assessment of the Swan River Watershed dataset (ZIP) Function: Online function code: download Transfer options: Digital transfer options: Units of distribution: MB Transfer size: 6 Online: Online Resource: Linkage: URL: https://extranet.gov.ab.ca/srd/geodiscover/srd_pub/environment/RiparianAssessment/SRW_RiparianAssessment_FinalReport.pdf Protocol: FTP Name: Riparian Area Assessment of the Swan River System Final Report (PDF) Description: PDF document containing Riparian Area Assessment of the Swan River System Final Report Function: Online function code: download
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Data quality info:

Data quality: Scope: Scope: Hierarchy level: Scope code: dataset Lineage: Lineage: Statement: Riparian habitat was assessed within “riparian management areas” (RMAs) using a desktop-based assessment tool that utilizes a current land cover layer to assess habitat intactness. Each RMA has a variable length, as determined by major breaks in the proportion of vegetation cover along the shoreline, and a fixed 50 m buffer that extended perpendicular to the shoreline. Within each RMA, intactness was assessed using a number of GIS metrics that assessed the type and extent of vegetation and human disturbance. Intactness was used as the measure of riparian condition because the relationship between an intact riparian zone and the health or function of the aquatic environment is well established.
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Metadata maintenance:

Maintenance information: Maintenance and update frequency: Maintenance frequency code: asNeeded
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