Abstract: Alberta Environment and Protected Areas and the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI) jointly developed a Native Cover indicator for the province of Alberta. Native cover is defined as an area that is free of visible anthropogenic alteration (human footprint). There are two types of native cover: aquatic and wetland native cover (AWNC) and terrestrial native cover (TNC). AWNC represents the amount of aquatic habitat, including bogs, fens, swamps, marshes, open water, and riparian areas that are free of visible human footprint; while TNC represents the amount of upland (non-aquatic) habitat free of visible human footprint. AWNC and TNC conditions were calculated for all Hydrological Unit Code 8 (HUC 8) watersheds in Alberta for 2010, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 using four datasets: the Wetland Inventory and Human Footprint Inventories created and maintained by the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute; and the Lotic Riparian – Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Derived dataset and the hierarchical watershed boundaries created and maintained by the Government of Alberta. The calculations of AWNC and TNC account for recovery of forest harvest areas.
Metadata: 
  File identifier: 
      A582D6FE-B340-4F9B-9E7C-C7ADEEDBCE7D
  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, Petroleum Plaza South Tower
              Delivery point: 
                  9915-108 St NW
              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: 

      2024-09-13
  Metadata standard name: 
      NAP - Metadata
  Metadata standard version: 
      1.2
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Spatial representation info:

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 info:

Reference system: Reference system identifier: RS Identifier: Code: 3400 Code Space: EPSG Version: 6.11(9.3.0.0)
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Identification info:

Data identification: Citation: Citation: Title: Native Cover Indicator for Alberta Date: Date: Date: 2023-08-30 Date type: Date type code: creation Date: Date: Date: 2023-09-29 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, Petroleum Plaza South Tower Delivery point: 9915-108 St NW 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: Alberta Environment and Protected Areas and the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI) jointly developed a Native Cover indicator for the province of Alberta. Native cover is defined as an area that is free of visible anthropogenic alteration (human footprint). There are two types of native cover: aquatic and wetland native cover (AWNC) and terrestrial native cover (TNC). AWNC represents the amount of aquatic habitat, including bogs, fens, swamps, marshes, open water, and riparian areas that are free of visible human footprint; while TNC represents the amount of upland (non-aquatic) habitat free of visible human footprint. AWNC and TNC conditions were calculated for all Hydrological Unit Code 8 (HUC 8) watersheds in Alberta for 2010, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 using four datasets: the Wetland Inventory and Human Footprint Inventories created and maintained by the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute; and the Lotic Riparian – Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Derived dataset and the hierarchical watershed boundaries created and maintained by the Government of Alberta. The calculations of AWNC and TNC account for recovery of forest harvest areas. Purpose: The Native Cover Indicator is intended to measure and track the amount of undisturbed habitat. The indicator accounts for two broad cover types: aquatic and wetland native cover and terrestrial native cover. The indicator supports evaluation and reporting on the amount of undisturbed habitat over time and provides information to support regional and sub-regional planning. 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: Delivery point: 3rd Floor, Petroleum Plaza South Tower Delivery point: 9915-108 St NW 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: asNeeded Descriptive keywords: Keywords: Keyword: Alberta, Canada Type: Keyword type code: place Descriptive keywords: Keywords: Keyword: Aquatic and wetland native cover Keyword: Terrestrial native cover Keyword: Human footprint Keyword: Harvest area recovery Type: Keyword type code: theme 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/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: Native Cover Indicator for Alberta Date: Date: Date: 2024-04-22 Date type: Date type code: publication Cited responsible party: Responsible party: Organisation name: Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, Government of Alberta Position name: Cumulative Effects Management Planning Section, Lands Planning Branch, Lands Division Contact info: Contact: Address: Address: Electronic mail address: EPA.Planning@gov.ab.ca Role: Role code: publisher ISBN: 978-1-4601-5875-3 Association Type: Association type code: crossReference Spatial representation type: Spatial representation type code: vector Language: Language Code: eng Character set: Character set code: utf8 Topic category: Topic category code: environment Environment description: Version 6.2 (Build 9200) ; Esri ArcGIS 10.7.1.11595 Extent: Extent: Geographic element: Geographic bounding box: Extent type code: true West bound longitude: -120.902231 East bound longitude: -108.457295 South bound latitude: 48.894798 North bound latitude: 60.095171
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DISTRIBUTION INFO:

Distribution: Distribution format: Format: Name: Shapefile Version: 10.7.1 Specification: SHP 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: 40 Online: Online Resource: Linkage: URL: https://extranet.gov.ab.ca/srd/geodiscover/srd_pub/environment/NativeCoverIndicator.zip Protocol: FTP Name: Native Cover Indicator (SHP) Description: Shapefile containing Native Cover Indicator dataset (ZIP) Function: Online function code: download Transfer options: Digital transfer options: Units of distribution: MB Transfer size: 2 Online: Online Resource: Linkage: URL: https://open.alberta.ca/publications/native-cover-indicator-for-alberta Protocol: HTTPS Name: Native Cover Indicator for Alberta Description: Accompanying report for Native Cover Indicator for Alberta dataset Function: Online function code: information
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Data quality info:

Data quality: Scope: Scope: Hierarchy level: Scope code: dataset Lineage: Lineage: Statement: Four datasets were used for indicator calculation: (1) Wetland Inventory by ABMI, (2) Human Footprint Inventories by ABMI, (3) Lotic Riparian–Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Derive dataset by Government of Alberta, and (4) Hierarchical watershed boundaries by Government of Alberta.
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Metadata maintenance:

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