The documented occurrence data package contains 3 datasets that, in combination, help to provide generalized information about woodland caribou locations and survey areas in Saskatchewan. This information may assist users in their efforts to avoid or mitigate impacts to woodland caribou when operating in woodland caribou range. Generalized locations of caribou use have been provided to better reflect their large home ranges. Absence of a hexagon in an area should not be interpreted as absence of woodland caribou.Please read the Data Guide for important information about this product. Download survey boundaries, telemetry occurrence, and sightings/sign. Download the full package, including data guide here. The Woodland Caribou Documented Occurrence public data product is composed of three shapefiles/feature classes: 1. Woodland Caribou Occurrence - Sighting and Sign 2. Woodland Caribou Occurrence - Telemetry 3. Woodland Caribou Survey Boundaries The two occurrence datasets contain a grid of 18 sq km hexagons (tessellation). The inclusion of a hexagon in the dataset indicates that one or more animal sightings or sign, or telemetry points have been documented in that area. Importantly, lack of caribou occurrence (e.g. no hexagon) should not be interpreted as absence of woodland caribou. Rather, data may not have been collected in these areas or incidental or other observations have not been received.   The survey boundaries dataset displays the boundaries of woodland caribou surveys that were completed by or in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment from 2005 to 2024. Boundaries are from multiple sources, and include various types of surveys (fecal pellet collection or telemetry). These boundaries provide context when viewed alongside the woodland caribou occurrence datasets. We expect to see more occurrence locations in areas that have been surveyed. This information may provide context to areas with a seemingly higher number of occurrences.  For a full description of the data, please refer to the Data Guide document available for download on the Saskatchewan GeoHub.

The data in this dataset represent an amalgamation of sea turtle sighting, stranding, and entrapment events, mainly near Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada.This document summarises the detection events data for Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), Loggerhead (Caretta caretta), and Green (Chelonia mydas) Turtles that has been collected from opportunistic and systematic survey sources, plus stranding and entrapment records, in the waters of NL from 1946 to 2023. To a much lesser extent there are also detection records for the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. Scotian Shelf, and northeastern U.S. waters.These detection records are mostly derived from opportunistic reports, so there are rarely data for a report that includes measures of the observer effort expended to make the detection, and rarely associated imagery. During DFO aerial surveys there are measures of effort in most cases, enabling the turtle sightings reports to be used in habitat modelling (e.g., Mosnier et al. 2018).Most of the information variables (such as “Date”, “Latitude”, “Longitude”, “Number of Animals”) have been obtained from the detection report. In some cases data for variables such as “Location Reliability”, “ID Reliability”, “Platform”, and “Strand or Entrapment Outcome” were derived from interpretation of the comments associated with the report, if available. For description of the variables in the dataset see the Data Dictionary.References:Mosnier, A., Gosselin, J.-F., Lawson, J., Plourde, S., and Lesage, V. 2018. Predicting seasonal occurrence of leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) in eastern Canadian waters from turtle and sunfish (Mola mola) sighting data and habitat characteristics. Can. J. Zool. 97: 464-478. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2018-0167

Sightings data were collected by the Mingan Island Cetacean Study (MICS) from 1980 to 2008 with annual surveys realised in the Gulf of St. Lawrence between the end of may and early november. Surveys were conducted using inflatable boats enabling the close approaches necessary to photograph and biopsy blue whales.The aim of this project was to provide additional information for designating blue whale critical habitat as required under the Canadian Species at Risk Act.For more details consult the following report:Ramp, C. and Sears, R. 2013. Distribution, densities, and annual occurrence of individual blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada from 1980-2008. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2012/157. vii + 37 p.http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/ResDocs-DocRech/2012/2012_157-eng.htmlData of blue whale sightings, collected by the MICS, have been analysed per km of effort in 3 x 3 km grid cells in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for the 2000-2008 period.

PURPOSE:The focus of this research is on changes in the distribution of killer whales in the Canadian Arctic, which is within the field of marine biogeography and marine megafauna. Our research details change in killer whale presence and ties it to changes in sea ice coverage. These are novel results, presenting trends in the arrival and departure dates of killer whales into the eastern Canadian Arctic for the first time. We go on to discuss the impacts of these changes on other aspects of Arctic ecosystems and how increasing in killer whale presence might affect other species and the management of those species in Canada. Killer whales are a widespread species of interest, especially in the Canadian Arctic as their presence is tied to multiple aspects of a region rapidly changing from the effects of climate change. DESCRIPTION:This study examines 20 years of killer whale (Orcinus orca) sightings in the eastern Canadian Arctic, drawing from a comprehensive sighting database spanning 1850-2023. Despite inherent biases favoring data collection near communities and coastal areas, spatiotemporal analyses reveal significant shifts in killer whale distribution linked to changing sea ice conditions. We developed a clustering metric representing the mean distance to the five nearest sightings and results show that killer whales are progressively moving away from historically high-use areas and that sighting locations are becoming more dispersed over time. A significant year × sea ice interaction indicates observations occur earlier during their arrival period at lower sea ice concentrations over time, suggesting that declining sea iceconcentration contributes to earlier arrival. Conversely, for departure periods, killer whales are observed farther south later in the year, likely linked to earlier freeze-up at higher latitudes, and are overall observed later into the year over time. This trend has led to a near doubling of their average presence from 26 days in 2002 to 48 days in 2023 (27 July to 13 September) reflecting an extended open-water season. These findings underscore the prolonged seasonal use of Arctic regions by killer whales, driven by diminishing sea ice and expanding openwater habitat. Such shifts highlight potential implications for Arctic marine ecosystems as killer whales increasingly overlap with endemic species.

The ASTER instrument that was launched onboard NASA’s Terra spacecraft in December 1999 has an along-track stereoscopic capability using two telescopes in its near infrared spectral band to acquire data from nadir and backward views. Over 1.2 million scenes (level-1A products) acquired between March 2000 and August 2008 were used to generate the ASTER Global DEM (ASTGTM) collection.  For more information, please see the metadata link above.

A direction one looks from a viewpoint towards a visual landscape. When a view is panoramic, it is to the middle of that panoramic view

The VLI identifies and delineates areas of visual sensitivity near communities and along travel corridors throughout the province. It includes information about the visual condition, characteristics and sensitivity to alteration. It also houses scenic area and established Visual Quality Objective ( VQO ) attributes.

This database aggregates basic information on orphaned and abandoned mine sites from participating Canadian jurisdictions, including their name, location, jurisdiciton, and the commodity that was mined. It was originally created in 2012 through the National Orphaned/Abandoned Mines Initiative and has undergone several updates since that time. Data on sites in each jurisdiction is owned and maintained by that jurisdiction. The database includes links to the corresponding records in that jursidiction. While the database includes common informaiton about all sites, there may be discrepancies in the types of data provided about sites in different jurisdictions and data from some jurisdictions may be updated more frequently than others.

Locations are indicated based on the information available. If coordinates were not available, the approximate location is indicated using the description associated with the record. Note that effort is not accounted for in this dataset, nor is effort equally distributed throughout the area captured. Data derived from satellite or acoustic tagging are not included in this dataset. Note that not all records are confirmed. DFO Science reviews records and reports and classifies them as either confirmed or unconfirmed, based on the available information (e.g., pictures, videos, descriptions).

Canada’s NFI survey was designed to provide an unbiased probability sample of Canada’s forests for long-term strategic monitoring purposes. The target population is Canada’s entire non-Arctic land area. A National Terrestrial Monitoring Framework (NTMF) was created by establishing a systematic 4 km by 4 km sampling grid over all of Canada from a random offshore point. Prior to T0, NFI partners determined that the NFI program would be able to affordably achieve its mission by establishing a 2 km by 2 km (400 ha) “photo plot” at every fifth sampling point on the NTMF (i.e. every 20 km), thereby providing a one percent sample of the target population. This sampling intensity was considered sufficient for national reporting and possible to sustain over the long term with anticipated funding.Photo plots were established across Canada during 2000-2006 (T0). There are 26,139 photo plot survey locations on the 20 km by 20 km grid, of which 18,570 lie inside the target population area. For each photo plot, information is collected on land cover, land use, ownership and protection status.NFI photo plot survey data are stratified by “NFI Unit” for standard estimation and reporting purposes. NFI Units were created by the geographic intersection of Canada’s 10 provinces, 3 territories and 12 non-Arctic terrestrial ecozones. Estimates produced for NFI Units are rolled up to produce standard reports for ecozones, jurisdictions (provinces and territories) and Canada. Some NFI Units are too small to produce robust estimates for with the current sampling intensity, so NFI Unit estimates are not publicly reported. Prince Edward Island (PEI) Atlantic Maritime, for example, is PEI’s only NFI Unit and it is small (1% sampling intensity achieved with only 19 photo plots), so the NFI avoids publishing provincial reports. Information consumers are encouraged to use official statistics produced by provincial and territorial governments for the forests in their jurisdictions. Most provinces are large, however, and the current NFI sampling intensity is sufficient for producing robust NFI reports for those jurisdictions. Special estimation reports can be produced using different ecological or administrative strata, such as the Boreal Zone, or the Managed Forest.NFI photo plots are surveyed on a ten-year cycle. During first re-measurement (T1; 2008-2017), survey intensity was reduced to one photo plot every 40 km across northern Canada (Figure 3) because of budget limitations. The T2 survey (2018-2027) is currently underway.