The “Agricultural Land Practices Groups of the Canadian Prairies” dataset lays out the areas of the 13 Land Practices Groups of the agricultural portions of the Canadian Prairies. They are represented by vector polygons amalgamated (dissolved) from the Version 1.9 SLC polygons sharing common water resources, land use and farming practices as developed in the “Agricultural Land Practices Groups of the Canadian Prairies by SLC Polygon” of this series. The dataset is based upon selected attributes from the Soil Landscapes of Canada (SLC) and the 1996 Census of Agriculture.Typical attributes including: land in pasture, land in summerfallow, crop mixture, farm size and the level of chemical and fertilizer inputs.

The “Agricultural Major Land Practices Groups of the Canadian Prairies” dataset lays out the areas of the 5 Major Land Practices Groups of the agricultural portions of the Canadian Prairies. They are represented by vector polygons amalgamated (dissolved) from the Version 1.9 SLC polygons sharing common water resources, land use and farming practices as developed in the “Agricultural Land Practices Groups of the Canadian Prairies by SLC Polygon” of this series. The dataset is based upon selected attributes from the Soil Landscapes of Canada (SLC) and the 1996 Census of Agriculture.Typical attributes including: land in pasture, land in summerfallow, crop mixture, farm size and the level of chemical and fertilizer inputs.

The Native Prairie Vegetation Inventory (NPVI) Polygons is a quarter section-based vegetation inventory that covers the southern part of Alberta. The native prairie is defined in the Native Prairie Conservation Action Plan as an area of unbroken grassland or parkland dominated by non-introduced species, and an area of previously broken grassland that has reverted back to natural vegetation (30 to 60 years). The Native Prairie Vegetation Inventory extends beyond the Grasslands Natural Region to include data for adjacent areas, such as the Cypress Hills. In addition to the Grassland Natural Region, the Native Prairie Vegetation Inventory (NPVI) Polygons include areas that belong to the Foothills Parkland, Central Parkland, Montane, Dry Mixedwood Boreal and Lower Foothills Natural Subregions.

Land cover imagery for the mixed grassland ecoregion of Saskatchewan with a resolution of 10m. Classification was based on machine learning analysis and remote sensing data of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imagery. The goal of this land cover was to distinguish native from tame grasslands, and is classified into several classes: cropland, native grassland, mixed grassland, tame grassland, water, shrubs and trees. Please also refer to the Prairie Landscape Inventory (PLI) - Mixed Grassland Accuracy raster file, which depicts the estimated level of accuracy for this this classification.Download: Here Land cover imagery for the mixed grassland ecoregion of Saskatchewan with a resolution of 10m. Classification was based on machine learning analysis and remote sensing data of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imagery. The goal of this land cover was to distinguish native from tame grasslands, and is classified into several classes: cropland, native grassland, mixed grassland, tame grassland, water, shrubs and trees. Badreldin, N.; Prieto, B.; Fisher, R. Mapping Grasslands in Mixed Grassland Ecoregion of Saskatchewan Using Big Remote Sensing Data and Machine Learning. Remote Sens. 2021, 13, 4972. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13244972The Prairie Landscape Inventory (PLI) working team of Habitat Unit in the Fish, Wildlife and Lands Branch, Ministry of Environment aims to develop improved methods of assessing land cover and land use for conservation. Native grassland, in particular, has been one of the most hard to map at risk ecosystems because of difficulty for imagery classification methods to distinguish native from tame grasslands. Improved classification methods will provide valuable information for habitat suitability, identifying high biodiversity potential and invasion risk potential. The classification map has seven (7) classes: 1. Cropland This class represents all cultivated areas with crop commodities such as corn, Pulses, Soybeans, canola, grains, and summer-fallow. 2. Native This class represents the native grassland areas of the Mixed Grasslands, which are composed primarily of native grass species such as the needle grasses (needle and thread, porcupine grass and green needle grass), wheat grasses (slender wheatgrass, western wheatgrass and awned wheatgrass) along with June grass and blue grama grass. Also includes a variety of additional grass and sedge species, forbs such as pasture sage and some non-vascular species such as selaginella or lichens. 3. Mixed This class represents one or more of the followings cases; o A higher heterogenic grassland terrain with a mix of less than 75% native or/and less than 75% tame; o Native or/and tame grassland affected by high abiotic stresses such as soil salinity and drought; o Native or/and tame grassland affected by soil erosion such as water and wind erosions; o A high disturbed area by livestock and human activities; and o A bare terrain with low vegetation cover < 50% coverage in 100 m2 area. 4. TameThis class represents the tame grassland areas that have in most cases been intentionally modified and seeded or planted with an introduced grass species such as crested wheatgrass and smooth brome. Russian wild rye is encountered typically planted in more saline areas. However, in more recent years’ horticultural varieties of various wheatgrass species have also been introduced. Alfalfa and sweet clover are the most commonly encountered introduced forb species. 5. Water This class represents one of the following hydrological forms: o Lakes; o Rivers; o Water ponds; o Streamflow; o Dugouts; and o Lower elevations in irrigated areas. 6. Shrubs (Modified from ISO 19131 Annual Crop Inventory – Data Product Specifications, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, 2013.)This class represents the predominantly woody vegetation of relatively low height (generally ±2 m). This class may include grass or wetlands with woody vegetation, and regenerating forest. 7. Trees (Modified from ISO 19131 Annual Crop Inventory – Data Product Specifications, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, 2013.)This class represents predominantly forest areas such as: o Coniferous trees; o Deciduous trees; o Mixedwood area; and o Other trees > 2 m height. Colour Classes: Value Label Red Green Blue 1 Cropland 255 255 190 2 Native 168 168 0 3 Mixed 199 215 158 4 Tame 245 202 122 5 Water 190 232 255 6 Shrubs 205 102 153 7 Trees 38 115 0 Accuracy:Please refer to the Prairie Landscape Inventory (PLI) - Mixed Grassland Accuracy raster file, which depicts the estimated level of accuracy for this classification.

The Grassland Inventory provides a standardized, high-resolution land cover classification for the grassland ecosystems in Canada. Developed using a random forest classification on multi-temporal Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 Optical imagery, the series differentiates intact native grasslands from high-disturbance, tame perennial forage systems; two classes that are spectrally and phenologically similar, yet critical to differentiate and quantify accurately for carbon and biodiversity modelling. Each release in the series includes a categorical 10 m land cover raster and a companion continuous likelihood layer representing model confidence in the native grassland class. As new classifications are added (semi-decadal) and geographic extent increased, the series will enable consistent temporal comparisons to track grassland dynamics and land cover change to support operational and research applications within AAFC and stakeholders.

The Prairie Soil Zones file shows the general distribution of major soil zones across the Prairie region of Canada. Soil zones (based on the Canadian System of Soil Classification) are named based on the dominant soil classification of the soils in each zone. Data extent is limited to the Agricultural Zone as defined in Soil Landscapes of Canada v 3.0 (Lefebvre et al. 2005).

The “Prairie Agricultural Landscapes (PAL)” datasets identify areas of the agricultural portions of the Canadian Prairies with similar land and water resources, land use and farming practices. They are represented by vector polygons.Based on selected attributes from the Soil Landscapes of Canada (SLC) and the 1996 Census of Agriculture, the Prairies were classified into 13 (thirteen) classes of Land Practices Group and five (5) Major Land Practices Groups.Typical attributes used to define the Land Practice Groups include: land in pasture, land in summerfallow, crop mixture, farm size and the level of chemical and fertilizer inputs.The five (5) Major Groups were devised to help better understand the relationships between the groups.

Forest encroachment onto grasslands

Grassland and Shrub-steppe Habitat coverage for the South Okanagan-Similkameen Conservation Program Area of Interest.

The ‘Circa 1995 Landcover of the Prairies’dataset is a geospatial raster data layer portraying the rudimentaryland cover types of all grain-growing areas of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and northeastern British Columbia at a 30-metre resolution for the 1995 timeframe. It is the collection of all the classified imagery (1993 to 1995) of the Western Grain Transition Payment Program (WGTPP) assembled into a single seamless raster data layer.