The Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) Québec BCR7 Scoter and Late Nester Survey used helicopters to survey late nesting waterfowl on 5x5 km (25 km²) plots in the Québec portion of Bird Conservation Region 7 (BCR7) in 2014. BCR7 extends across much of the Canadian shield and spans eight provinces and territories. In Québec, BCR7 is the largest of the BCRs, representing 37% of the province’s territory and spanning from Hudson Bay and James Bay in the west to the Labrador border in the east. This region represents the transition from boreal to arctic habitats, bordered by boreal forests to the south and treeless tundra to the north. The main goal of the QCB725 was to fill a monitoring gap for sea ducks and other late nesters on the taiga in Québec, and in particular scoters (genus Melanitta), as most traditional waterfowl surveys do not cover their breeding range or late nesting phenology. Complete bilingual metadata including detailed survey design, protocols and data dictionaries is available in downloadable files.

The Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) Atlantic Agricultural Waterfowl Survey (ATLAG4) used helicopters to survey breeding waterfowl on square 2x2 km (4 km²) plots in agricultural areas in the Maritime Provinces (New Brunswick (NB), Nova Scotia (NS) and Prince Edward Island (PE) from 2008-2013. The survey was delivered in partnership with Ducks Unlimited Canda (DUC) and as part of the Eastern Habitat Joint Venture (EHJV) program. The objective of the survey was to establish baseline information about breeding season abundances and distributions of waterfowl in agricultural areas in the Maritimes, which were previously under-represented in other waterfowl surveys in the region.Complete bilingual metadata including detailed survey design, survey protocols, and data dictionaries is available in downloadable files.

The Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) Prince Edward Island Waterfowl Survey used helicopters to survey breeding waterfowl on square 2x2 km (4 km²) plots in 2016 on Prince Edward Island (PE). The objective of the survey was to establish baseline information about breeding season abundances and distributions of waterfowl on PE, and also to inform the design of potential future surveys in the province. Complete bilingual metadata including detailed survey design, survey protocols and data dictionaries is available in downloadable files.

A Priority Place is an area of high biodiversity value that is seen as a distinct place with a common ecological theme by the people who live and work there. As part of the Pan-Canadian approach to transforming Species at Risk conservation in Canada, a total of 11 Priority Places were affirmed by federal, provincial, and territorial governments. One additional priority place was affirmed in 2024. The places selected have significant biodiversity, concentrations of species at risk, and opportunities to advance conservation efforts. In each Priority Place, the federal and provincial or territorial governments are working with Indigenous Peoples, partners, and stakeholders to develop conservation implementation plans. This dataset displays the geographic area covered by each of the 12 Priority Places using the best available information from the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS). Boundary information for each Priority Place was provided by its respective CWS regional office.The federal government, in collaboration with the provinces and territories, has agreed to the implementation of the Pan-Canadian Approach to Transforming Species at Risk Conservation in Canada. This new approach shifts from a single-species approach to conservation to one that focuses on multiple species and ecosystems. This enables conservation partners to work together to achieve better outcomes for species at risk. These 12 Priority Places are complemented by a suite of Community-Nominated Priority Places (CNPP), identified through an open call for applications.

The Canadian National Wetlands Inventory (CNWI) is a comprehensive, publicly available national geodatabase developed by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), in collaboration with federal, provincial, and territorial governments, academia, Indigenous groups, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). It consists of the best available wetland mapping data, along with its metadata, published in a standardized manner.The CNWI is continuously updated through the compilation of existing data and the acquisition of new high-resolution datasets to address coverage gaps, with an emphasis on peatlands and coastal wetlands, which are key habitats for greenhouse gas (GHG) sequestration. ECCC plans to use the CNWI to train and validate machine-learning algorithms to delineate and classify wetlands at a national scale and to measure trends over time. This will directly support Canada’s Nature-Based Climate Solutions by informing biodiversity conservation, guiding climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, and supporting GHG emissions reporting.The CNWI was initially released in February 2024 with 13 source datasets. In June 2025, the Inventory was updated to include 14 additional datasets. Collectively, these 27 source datasets comprise approximately 12.1 million wetland polygon features, covering a total area of roughly 640,000 square kilometers across ten provinces and territories (BC, MB, NB, NL, NS, PE, ON, QC, SK, YT). These source datasets were cross-walked into a standardized CNWI classification schema, which is based on two foundational documents: the Canadian Wetland Classification System (National Wetlands Working Group, 1997) and the Canadian Wetland Inventory Data Model (2016).The CNWI Schema contains five major wetland classes (Bog, Fen, Swamp, Marsh, and Shallow/Open Water) and eight subclasses (Rich Fen, Poor Fen, Organic Swamp, Mineral Swamp, Organic Marsh, Mineral Marsh, Shallow Water, and Open Water). Non-conforming wetlands can be categorized into three groups: Peatland, Mixed, and Unclassified. For more information on the CNWI and the related database, please refer to the CNWI User Manual and other supporting documents that accompany this publication. The User Manual provides detailed information on how data are collected, managed, and distributed to meet CNWI data standards.

The Atlantic Colonial Waterbird Monitoring database captures geo-referenced data collected under the Atlantic Region’s Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) Colonial Seabird Monitoring program, and data collected under CWS’ waterfowl and protected areas programs. These programs collectively monitor 22 species of colonial waterbirds breeding in the Atlantic Region of the following groups: fulmars, shearwaters, storm-petrels, gannets, gulls, terns, alcids, eiders, herons and cormorants, with the primary outcome to update information on the distribution, status, and trends of waterbirds breeding in all four Atlantic provinces. Surveys are conducted using one of three platforms: aerial, boat, or ground. Aerial surveys provide the most cost-effective way of conducting a comprehensive population census of diurnal species visible from air, namely gulls (Herring, Great Black-backed, Ring-billed, Glaucous), Black-legged Kittiwakes, Northern Gannets, terns (Arctic, Common, Roseate, Caspian), cormorants (Greater, Double-crested), Black Guillemots, and Common Eiders.Aerial surveys are also effective in identifying new colonies and provide additional information on how to most effectively conduct boat and ground surveys. Boat and ground surveys are conducted at smaller geographic scales and are necessary to obtain complementary information on the species composition of colonies and correction factors to finalize gull, tern and eider estimates obtained from the aerial surveys. Ground and/or boat surveys are also necessary to conduct colony counts of cliff-nesting birds (murres and fulmars), crevice nesting birds (razorbills and guillemots) and burrow-nesting birds (puffins, storm-petrels, shearwaters). Raw data are captured using various survey methods, including:1) visual estimates, 2) direct counts of number of individuals or apparently occupied sites and/or photo counts, 3) sub-sampling the colony through plot counts and extrapolating the estimated occupied densities over the occupied area which in turn is estimated using a variety of geographic information system approaches (e.g., Wilhelm et al. 2015). Important outcomes for how data are used include informing marine spatial planning, emergency preparedness, impact assessment of various anthropogenic threats, and COSEWIC status assessment (e.g., COSEWIC 2020). Further, these data are regularly used internally or in collaboration with partners to form the basis of peer-reviewed publications on regional, national, and/or global population trends for target species (e.g., Langlois Lopez et al. 2022, Iles et al. 2025).This dataset represents a subset of data collected from surveys led by CWS spanning from 1910 to 2024 and summarized to present, at a given colony, the year and count of birds from the most recent survey, the year and maximum count of birds within the last 20 years (if available), and the year and maximum count of birds ever recorded. In addition, CWS works closely with a variety of partners (e.g., provincial, other federal departments, academic, not-for profit organizations) to supplement colonial waterbird data collected in the Atlantic Region. To request additional census or survey data, please contact CWS.COSEWIC. 2020. COSEWIC assessment and status report on the Leach’s Storm-Petrel (Atlantic population) Oceanodroma leucorhoa in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. xii + 70 pp. (https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry.html). Iles, D.T., S.E. Gutowsky, A.M. Calvert, S.I. Wilhelm, J.-F. Rail, A. Hedd, H.L. Major, A.C. Smith, and G.J. Robertson. 2025. Estimating regional trajectories and trends of seabirds from sparse and inconsistent colony counts: case studies from eastern Canada with Leach’s Storm-Petrel and Atlantic Puffin. Avian Conservation and Ecology 20(2):16. https://doi.org/10.5751/ACE-02931-200216Langlois Lopez, S., Bond, A.L., O’Hanlon, N.J., Wilson, J.M., Vitz, A., Mostello, C.S., Hamilton, F., Rail, J.-F., Welch, L., Boettcher, R., Wilhelm, S.I., Anker-Nilssen, T., Daunt, F., and Masden, E. 2022. Global population and conservation status of the Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus. Bird Conservation International, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270922000181Wilhelm, S.I., Mailhiot, J., Arany, J., Chardine, J.W., Robertson, G.J., and Ryan, P.C. 2015. Update and trends of three important seabird populations in the western North Atlantic using a geographic information system approach. Marine Ornithology 43: 211-222.

The Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) Québec Nunavik Great Whale (Grande Baleine) Waterfowl Survey used helicopters to survey breeding waterfowl on 25 10x10 km (100 km²) in 1991 during both the nesting and rearing periods on square plots located within the Great Whale River wetland complex, a heterogeneous network of inland lakes, ponds, and river-associated wetlands distributed across the Grande rivière de la Baleine watershed in Northern Québec and Nunavik. The survey targeted three main species (Canada Goose, Black Scoter and Surf Scoter) but recorded observations of 25 waterfowl species in total. The primary goal of the survey was to model the habitat associations of the three target species, combining observational data with habitat characterization using remote sensing, and subsequently to assess the reproductive potential of these three species over a larger area. Complete bilingual metadata including detailed survey design, protocols and data dictionaries is available in downloadable files.

The Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) Québec Lowlands Survey (Suivi des basses-terres) uses helicopters to annually survey breeding waterfowl on square 2x2 km (4 km²) plots located in three lowland areas in Southern Québec (St. Lawrence, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and Abitibi-Temiscamingue) within the breeding range of early nesters such as the American Black Duck, Mallard, Canada Goose and Wood Duck. The main goal of the survey is to generate reliable indices for trends of all waterfowl species with similar breeding phenology nesting within the Québec lowlands, i.e. annual indices should provide estimates of the population with a coefficient of variation (CV) of 10%, and population trend should detect a 10% decline over a period of 5 years with 90% confidence. A more specific goal is to monitor relative trends of American Black Duck and Mallard, given their competition for habitat in this region of Québec. Complete bilingual metadata including detailed survey design, protocols and data dictionaries is available in downloadable files.

The Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Unit dataset is comprised of the polygons representing Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Units in Alberta. Alberta Public Safety and Emergency Services, Government of Alberta, manages the Fish and Wildlife enforcement services to provide the public and other government departments' information regarding the locations of Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Units throughout the province.

Wildlife Management Units are used for a number of wildlife management purposes, like indicating the areas of Ontario where hunting open seasons and harvest quotas apply. Wildlife Management Unit boundaries are regulated under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act - Ontario Regulation 663/98, Part 6 as amended.