Introduction
The Agricultural Land Resource Atlas of Alberta is a collection of agricultural resource maps developed following completion of the Environmental Scan for Agriculture in Alberta by the Alberta Environmental Scan Technical Team in 2003.
The maps in the Atlas were prepared for the environmental scan process. Over time, the value of these maps as a source of resource and environmental information on a broad scale to farmers and ranchers and others involved in developing environmental farm plans became apparent.
Background
Alberta and Canada jointly conducted a scan of the environmental issues facing agriculture in Alberta as a commitment under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Agricultural Policy Framework. The purpose was to identify areas to target Environmental Farm Planning efforts and Beneficial Management Practice incentive funding.
A scan refers to a geographic assessment of the location, extent and severity of environmental issues associated with primary agriculture production. The environmental scan considered 5 components:
- surface water quality
- groundwater quality
- soil erosion risk
- air quality
- biodiversity
Consideration towards vulnerability of each component to impacts from agriculture took place with respect to the physical characteristics of the component and agricultural activities carried out. Various geographic-linked data sets combined to form risk factors for each of the 5 components in the area under study.
This environmental scan process resulted in a wealth of agricultural resource maps useful to producers and other agricultural professionals involved in developing environmental farm plans and in other activities related to agricultural land management in Alberta.
Using the atlas
The maps in the Agricultural Land Resource Atlas of Alberta are displayed at a common scale of approximately 1:3,000,000 making comparison between themes easier. All maps also have the Alberta Township System (ATS) displayed for generalized location reference. An explanation of the ATS on its own map in the Atlas.
Various geographic-linked datasets were gathered and compiled in order to produce the maps. Descriptions of each map provide understanding about; the underling data representing the idea or message the map is communicating potential uses of the map and where to look for further information supporting the map.
This Atlas contains generalized land resource information compiled for presentation at the provincial level. This scale of information is appropriate for making broad comparisons between different regions of Alberta. Comparisons between regions are possible with respect to different characteristics or limitations, and the atlas is not appropriate for assessing individual legal locations or for farm scale use.
The 5 risk maps developed for the environmental scan considered the vulnerability of surface water quality, groundwater quality, soil erosion risk, air quality and biodiversity as they relate to the impacts from agriculture. The assessment of vulnerability considers the interaction of the physical characteristics of air, water and soil landscapes and the associated agricultural management activities.
The geographic datasets used to represent these characteristics and activities combined information at various levels of detail into a unit-less ranking from 0 to 1. Rankings display on these risk maps as belonging to one of ten separate class intervals.
The intent of the risk maps is to identify potential issues at the regional level. Individual land locations may be located and the potential risks identified, but further site-specific evaluation and assessment are required to identify beneficial management practices to address or reduce the risk.
Maps and geospatial data
For all maps listed below, additional descriptions, original data sources and maps are available in the Agricultural Land Resource Atlas of Alberta, second edition.
Download the table of available spatial data sources for the atlas
Resources
Municipal Districts and County data
Various provincial and municipal maps can be purchased at:
Acknowledgements
Funding for the Atlas was provided by the Government of Alberta as part of its contribution to the Environment Chapter of the Agricultural Policy Framework.
The following groups require recognition for their contribution of data used to produce the maps: Government of Alberta, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, AltaLIS Ltd., Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Environment Canada, Norwest Labs, Statistics Canada and the United States National Climate Data Center.