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).

A Range Pasture is a grazing area enclosed and separated from other areas by fencing or other barriers (e.g. Natural Range Barrier). May be the management unit of grazing land as reflected in a Range Use Plan. Range Pastures are administrative and not legal boundaries.

The Head Tax Permit Zone is comprised of three polygons for determining which zone a head tax permit falls in. These zones are used to apply the rental rate that forest grazing reserve permits, head tax permits (HTP), and provincial grazing reserves (GRR) are charged (Ministerial Order 01/2020).

This spatial layer displays Range Tenures (grazing and hay cutting licence and permits) administered by the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. A Range Tenure is an area of Crown rangeland where a Range Act tenure applies. Tenure holders access a defined amount of forage through grazing (measured in Animal Unit Months) or hay (tonnage). Range Tenures apply only to Crown Land. In some cases, digital boundaries may overlap Private Land but these lands are not part of the Grazing area (as described in the legal description). Grazing may overlap waterbodies during drawdown (also described legally in the Tenure documents and where applicable, Range Use Plan). Livestock may graze islands and large bodies of water may act as Natural Range Barriers. March 3, 2023: Updates to the Range Tenure attribute table as described. Please contact Nancy.Elliot@gov.bc.ca if you have questions. To guide your use: 1. Layer contains RETIRED, PENDING, and ACTIVE Tenures (=Licenses and Permits); Select ACTIVE under attribute LIFE_CYCLE_STATUS_CODE to isolate all active tenures (status refers to spatial boundary status - therefore, a spatial boundary must be Retired in the Forest Tenure Administration system to have a status of retired); 2. Unique ID for Polygon is by RAN# in attribute FOREST_FILE_ID. Each tenure has own its RAN# (e.g. RAN07777). Multiple areas (polygons) belonging to the same tenure may have same RAN# with unique map block ids (e.g. RAN07777 A, RAN07777 B) 3. The field SUM_TENURE_ACTIVE_AREA_HA will provide, where LIFE_CYCLE_STATUS_CODE is ACTIVE, the total tenure area in Ha. For single block (polygon) tenures, this will be the same area as the polygon. Where there are multiple blocks, this will be the total sum area of all Active blocks. (Note this does not include PENDING or RETIRED tenure areas. Area is for Approved and Active Tenure boundaries. A block may be Approved but Pending, and therefore is not included). Review data for multipart vs multi polygons 4. AUTHORIZED_USE and TOTAL_ANNUAL_USE are for the entire Tenure; where there are multiple blocks, the total is over all blocks, seasonally distributed through different pastures 3. FILE_TYPE_CODE contains information on the type of Permit: • E01 - Grazing License • E02 - Grazing Permit • H01 - Haycutting License • H02 - Haycutting Permit 4. IF YOU ARE DOING SPATIAL ANALYSIS based on AREA --- Please note that tenures overlap either partially or wholly amongst tenure holders. One area may be shared by more than one Tenure holder and therefore there will be multiple congruent or partially overlapping polygons (multipart). If you want to do SPATIAL ANALYSIS based strictly on area, you must collapse or flatten the data using DISSOLVE so that the polygons are 1:1 with the land base (suggested approach)

The Rangeland Management Zones dataset is comprised of all the polygons that represent the Rangeland Management Zones in Alberta. A Rangeland Management Zone is an administrative area designated by the Lands Division in which grazing and other agricultural uses related to public land are managed by regional branch offices. The boundaries are used to ensure referrals are sent to the correct locations. The Rangeland Management Zones was formerly known as Alberta Sustainable Resource Development Rangeland Management Districts.

The Forest Reserve Range Distribution Units dataset represent the functional grazing management areas within the Rocky Mountains Forest Reserve. Boundaries of the allotments and/or distribution units may be defined by fencelines, height of land, natural boundaries, and/or a combination of these. This is currently the most accurate representation of the distribution unit boundary and is subject to change. In some cases these boundaries may extend beyond the boundary of the Rocky Mountains Forest Reserve. In these cases this is a representation of the management unit as a whole.

The Integrated Resource Plan - Local dataset is comprised of all the polygons that represent the Local Integrated Resource Plans (IRP) in Alberta. A Local IRP provides land resource management direction for a relatively smaller geographic planning area. A Local Plan is developed to provide more detailed land and resource use parameters than may be available in a Sub-Regional Plan. An IRP is a plan which identifies the values and associated land and resource management goals for the planning area in consideration of the maintenance of social, economic, and ecological values. An IRP provides direction regarding the type of land and resource management activity that would facilitate meeting the stated objectives in the planning area (e.g. recreation, grazing, industrial and commercial activities). The public was often involved in contributing input to the development of an IRP. IRPs were endorsed by the Government of Alberta in various periods.

The Integrated Resource Plan - Subregional dataset is comprised of all the polygons that represent the Sub-Regional Integrated Resource Plans (IRP) in Alberta. All the Sub-Regional IRPs were completed under the Integrated Resource Planning Program, from 1976 to approximately 1995. These plans were endorsed by the Government of Alberta with most being approved by Cabinet. The Sub-Regional Plans describe land-use zonation and objectives within individual defined planning areas, to ensure overall consistency with Regional goals and objectives. An Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) is a plan which identifies the values and associated land and resource management goals for the planning area in consideration of the maintenance of social, economic, and ecological values. An IRP provides direction regarding the type of land and resource management activity that would facilitate meeting the stated objectives in the planning area (for example: recreation, grazing, industrial and commercial activities). The public was often involved in contributing input to the development of an IRP. Majority of IRP plans were endorsed by the Government of Alberta in various periods.

Forest encroachment onto grasslands

The wildlife values area and site datasets represent the consolidation of 13 wildlife data classes collected by the Ministry of Natural Resources. The data estimates locations used by wildlife for various reasons, including: * breeding * calving and fawning * denning * feeding * staging * nesting * wintering * general habitat areas * nurseries * travel corridors Locations are represented as points (site) or polygons (area) and may be related to a specific species or described more generally. Wildlife values data is most often used to support policy and legislation associated with the Crown Forest Sustainability Act. The data may also be used to inform a wide range of resource management activities and decisions. There are additional sensitive features related to provincially tracked species and species at risk that are not available as part of the open data package. Sensitive features are subject to licensing and approvals and may be requested by contacting [geospatial@ontario.ca](geospatial@ontario.ca).