Forest encroachment onto grasslands

Historical Open Range - 1963-1994 is a polygon layer that depicts grasslands and shrublands (originally designated as 'on land deemed with no potential for growing trees'). Data were derived from a (retired) Provincial Forest Cover Polygon dataset which was interpreted from air photos. Photograph and interpretation dates range from 1963 to 1994. This dataset has value as temporal snapshots of ecosystems under siege from human and natural processes. Data is useful for identification and analysis of forest ingrowth into grasslands from fire suppression. Encroachment can shift over time, for example from changing climate and disturbance events, and this data provides one measure of that shift. Data may also inform location of wildfire safety buffers around communities.

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.

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.

SEI_Polygons contains Sensitive Ecosystems Inventory polygons with key and amalgamated (concatenated) attributes derived from the RISC (Resource Inventory Standards Committee) standard attributes. SEI identifies and maps rare and fragile terrestrial ecosystems. Ecosystems mapped may include (but are not limited to) older forests, woodlands, coastal bluffs, herbaceous and sparsely vegetated ecosystems, grasslands, riparian ecosystems and wetlands. SEI methods include manual air photo interpretation or theming of other Ecosystem Mapping, each supported by selective field checking. This layer is derived from the STE_TEI_ATTRIBUTE_POLYS_SP layer by filtering on the PROJECT_TYPE attribute. Project types include: SEI, TEMSEI, TEMSET, and SEIWHR. Current version: v11 (published on 2024-10-03) Previous versions: v10 (published on 2023-11-14), v9 (published on 2023-03-01), v8 (published on 2016-09-01)

Landscape Units (Subdivisions) were developed as a part of the 2002 Northern Caribou Strategy and are used for landscape level planning within Wildlife Habitat Area 5-086. For details please see: [Apps, C. D., T. A. Kinley, and J. A. Young. 2001. Multi-scale habitat modeling for woodland caribou in the Itcha, Ilgachuz, and Rainbow mountains of west-central British Columbia. Wildlife Section, Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada.](http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/cariboo/env_stewardship/wildlife/inventory/caribou/northcar/hmi/hsi06-01.pdf)

Broad Ecosystem Units were mapped using predictive modeling methods from various data sources (ranging from 1:50,000 to 1:250,000 in scale) and are referenced to the CanVec digital spatial framework (1:50,000). Broad Ecosystem Units (BEU) are a level in the Yukon bioclimate ecosystem classification system that represents areas with similar broad vegetation communities, terrain type (soils and topography) within bioclimate zones. Broad Ecosystem Units are described in the accompanying report "Regional Ecosystems of West-Central Yukon, Part 1: Ecosystem descriptions ".The intended application for mapped broad ecosystem units is 1:100,000 or smaller (1:100,000 - 1:250,000 scale) - interpretations derived from the map products should not be applied at more detailed scales, even though the resultant 30m raster map allows users to view results at more detailed resolutions. With new information, boundaries and designations of Broad Ecosystem Units can change. Updates to Broad Ecosystem Units occur only periodically. For the most current information, or if you have questions, please contact the Ecological and Landscape Classification Program (ELC@yukon.ca).Distributed from [GeoYukon](https://yukon.ca/geoyukon) by the [Government of Yukon](https://yukon.ca/maps) . Discover more digital map data and interactive maps from Yukon's digital map data collection.For more information: [geomatics.help@yukon.ca](mailto:geomatics.help@yukon.ca)

This dataset is used is used to determine the significance or status of wetland classes and certain other natural heritage features. It is also used to set targets for Wilderness Class Provincial parks, State of the Forest reporting and to study natural disturbance regimes.

The National Ecological Framework for Canada's "Land Cover by Ecodistrict” dataset provides land cover information within the ecodistrict framework polygon. It provides landcover codes and their English and French language description as well as information about the percentage of the polygon that the component occupies.

The Grazing Rental Zones is comprised of two polygons which determine which zone a grazing disposition (GRL, FGL, GRP) is in. These zones are used to apply the rental rate that grazing leases (GRL), grazing licenses (FGL) and grazing permits (GRP) pay to the government of Alberta for use of public lands. The Public Lands Modernization (Grazing Lease and Obsolete Provisions) Amendment Act came into force January 1, 2020. Under the new rental rate framework (Ministerial Order 01/2020), there are now two grazing rental rate zones based on the transition of the boreal region of the province. The North Saskatchewan River is the dividing line between the south (Zone 1) and north (Zone 2).