Abstract: This dataset shows length weighted connectivity values summarized by hydrologic unit code (HUC) for a provincial stream connectivity indicator that assesses connectivity for aquatic organisms in stream networks. The stream connectivity indicator supports evaluation and reporting on indicator condition over time and provides information to support management of watercourse crossings. The stream connectivity indicator produces an estimate of the average connectivity in a stream network, considering the movement requirements of local species and the locations of watercourse crossings. The indicator is calculated and summarized using hydrologic unit codes (HUCs). Indicator values are calculated at a HUC 6 scale, and summarized for HUC 8 watersheds at nine timesteps: 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Metadata:
File identifier:
EB11E484-0654-4E2A-8A31-54E0F5FAB2D0
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:
Electronic mail address:
EPA.Planning@gov.ab.ca
Role:
Role code:
publisher
Date stamp:
2026-06-12
Metadata standard name:
NAP - Metadata
Metadata standard version:
1.2
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Vector spatial representation:
Topology level:
Topology level code:
geometryOnly
Geometric objects:
Geometric objects:
Geometric object type:
Geometric object type code:
composite
Geometric object count:
422
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Reference system:
Reference system identifier:
RS Identifier:
Code:
3400
Code Space:
EPSG
Version:
6.11(9.3.0.0)
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Data identification:
Citation:
Citation:
Title:
Stream Connectivity Indicator for Alberta (Version 2.0)
Date:
Date:
Date:
2021-07-20
Date type:
Date type code:
creation
Date:
Date:
Date:
2026-06-12
Date type:
Date type code:
publication
Date:
Date:
Date:
2026-05-15
Date type:
Date type code:
revision
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:
Electronic mail address:
EPA.Planning@gov.ab.ca
Role:
Role code:
originator
Abstract:
This dataset shows length weighted connectivity values summarized by hydrologic unit code (HUC) for a
provincial stream connectivity indicator that assesses connectivity for aquatic organisms in stream
networks. The stream connectivity indicator supports evaluation and reporting on indicator condition over
time and provides information to support management of watercourse crossings. The stream connectivity
indicator produces an estimate of the average connectivity in a stream network, considering the movement
requirements of local species and the locations of watercourse crossings. The indicator is calculated and
summarized using hydrologic unit codes (HUCs). Indicator values are calculated at a HUC 6 scale, and
summarized for HUC 8 watersheds at nine timesteps: 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Purpose:
Alberta Environment and Protected Areas and the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI) jointly
developed stream connectivity as a biodiversity indicator to support environmental management including
cumulative effects management, planning, and reporting on environmental condition. This dataset provides
information on changes in the stream connectivity indicator values over time.
Credit:
Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute
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:
Electronic mail address:
EPA.Planning@gov.ab.ca
Role:
Role code:
pointOfContact
Resource maintenance:
Maintenance information:
Maintenance and update frequency:
Maintenance frequency code:
asNeeded
Descriptive keywords:
Keywords:
Keyword:
Alberta, Canada
Type:
Keyword type code:
place
Descriptive keywords:
Keywords:
Keyword:
Connectivity status
Keyword:
Road crossings
Keyword:
Barrier passability
Keyword:
Prioritization
Keyword:
Cumulative effects
Keyword:
Watersheds
Type:
Keyword type code:
theme
Descriptive keywords:
Keywords:
Keyword:
Thesaurus name: uuidref: 723f6998-058e-11dc-8314-0800200c9a66
Resource constraints:
Legal constraints:
Access constraints:
Restriction code:
otherRestrictions
Other constraints:
To access the data you must agree to the terms of the Open Government Licence - Alberta 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
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
Spatial representation type:
Spatial representation type code:
vector
Language:
Language Code:
eng
Character set:
Character set code:
utf8
Topic category:
Topic category code:
inlandWaters
Environment description:
Esri ArcGIS 13.3.0.52636
Extent:
Extent:
Geographic element:
Geographic bounding box:
West bound longitude:
-120.902231
East bound longitude:
-108.457295
South bound latitude:
48.894798
North bound latitude:
60.095171
Temporal element:
Temporal extent:
Extent:
Time period:
Begin date:
2010-01-01T00:00:00
End date:
2022-12-31T00:00:00
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Distribution:
Distribution format:
Format:
Name:
File Geodatabase
Version:
ArcGIS Pro 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:
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
Contact instructions:
This is the point of contact for the data download. If there are issues with the download please
contact the above email. For questions about the data, please contact EPA.Planning@gov.ab.ca
Role:
Role code:
distributor
Transfer options:
Digital transfer options:
Units of distribution:
MB
Transfer size:
16
Online:
Online Resource:
Linkage:
URL:
https://extranet.gov.ab.ca/srd/geodiscover/srd_pub/inlandWaters/StreamConnectivityIndicator_v2.zip
Protocol:
FTP
Name:
Stream Connectivity Indicator for Alberta 2.0 (SHP)
Description:
Shapefile containing Stream Connectivity Indicator for Alberta 2.0 data (ZIP)
Function:
Online function code:
download
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Data quality:
Scope:
Scope:
Hierarchy level:
Scope code:
dataset
Lineage:
Lineage:
Statement:
To calculate this indicator for all HUC-6 watersheds in Alberta, we used the following datasets:
1. Provincial human footprint inventories of linear features (e.g., roads and rails) across multiple years
(2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022). (Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute
Wall-to-Wall Human Footprint Inventory)
2. A provincial stream network and Strahler stream order(Alberta ArcHydro Phase 2 Data)
3. Locations of known dams (Alberta Dam Safety mapping), bridges (Alberta Transportation bridge inventory
for the majority of the province and Government of Alberta Base Features Access and Facility Roads
within national parks), stream crossing inspections (Watercourse Crossing Program), and active mining
leases (Alberta Energy Regulator Scheme Approval Spatial Data).
4. Hydrologic Unit Code Watersheds of Alberta
The stream connectivity indicator is based on a published metric (Diebel et al. 2014) with minor
modifications. The metric uses three main inputs:
1. Identification of road-stream intersections using human footprint inventories and the provincial stream
network
2. Assignment of habitat type: we use Strahler stream order as a proxy for habitat type, with lakes as a
separate habitat type.
3. Passability of culverts: We developed a model to predict the probability that a culvert is hanging
(0=complete hang, 1=no hang) at all road-stream intersections, using the boosted-regression tree
framework outlined by Januchowski-Hartleyetal.(2014).The final model used in this indicator had
across-validation AUC score of 0.74 (kappa = 0.32) and contained the following variables: climate
moisture index, local slope, confluence bound slope, upstream distance, elevation, and drainage density.
There are four situations where we purposefully mask the predictions from our hanging culvert model:
1. If a culvert survey has been performed at a road-stream intersection, the ground-truth value is used.
This means that other types of barriers (e.g., garbage, sedimentation, damaged culverts etc.) are
captured where survey data is available.
2. If a road-stream intersection occurs at a known location of a bridge, we assume there is no barrier to
movement (passability = 1)
3. If a road-stream intersection occurs at a known dam location, we assume it is a complete barrier to
movement (passability = 0).
4. If a road-stream intersection occurs within an active mining lease, we assume it is a complete barrier
to movement (passability = 0), as water is retained within the boundary of active leases and that
streams are often removed during mining activity, which is not captured by the hydrology layer. To
calculate the connectivity metric, the stream network for the region is divided into stream segments.
Each stream segment is assigned a connectivity value that assesses baseline availability of habitats
compared to the availability of habitats if artificial barriers are present in the watershed (HUC-6).
The overall connectivity status of a watershed is the length-weighted average of the connectivity status
of all the stream segments, where longer stream segments have more weight. The connectivity status
metric output is a proportion, which expresses the average connectivity of a stream segment in the
watershed.
References:
Diebel, M.W., Fedora, M., Cogswell, S., and Ohanley, J.R. 2014. Effects of road crossings on habitat
connectivity for stream-resident fish. River Research and Applications DOI:10.1002/rra.2822.
Januchowski-Hartley, S.R., Diebel, M., Doran, P.J., and McIntyre, P.B. 2014. Predicting road culvert
passability for migratory fishes. Diversity and Distributions DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12248.
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Maintenance information:
Maintenance and update frequency:
Maintenance frequency code:
asNeeded
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