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Alberta Natural Heritage Information Centre tracking and watch lists : vascular plants, mosses, liverworts and hornworts

Description

This list contains the tracking and watch lists for vascular plants, mosses, liverworts and hornworts as developed by the Alberta Natural Heritage Information Centre, Alberta Community Development.

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Richardson River Dunes Wildland Provincial Park : a synthesis of biophysical information

Description

This report represents a synthesis of the available information on the special and representative features of Richardson River Dunes Wildland Provincial Park (RRD). It is largely based on a number... More ≫

Description

This report represents a synthesis of the available information on the special and representative features of Richardson River Dunes Wildland Provincial Park (RRD). It is largely based on a number of reports and documents that were prepared as a result of field studies conducted during June and August of 2000. These reports and documents are listed in the Bibliography section of this report and will be available on the website of the Alberta Natural Heritage Information Centre or through the offices of the Parks and Protected Areas Division. Richardson River Dunes Wildland Provincial Park was established on 18 March 1998 by Order-in-Council (#105/98). Most of the park is currently mapped as occurring within the Central Mixedwood Subregion of the Boreal Forest Natural Region. However, the landscapes and features of the park are more representative of and have more affinities to the Athabasca Plain Subregion of the Canadian Shield Natural Region. The boundaries of the Natural Regions...

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Vegetation communities of Marguerite Crag and Tail Wildland Provincial Park

Description

This park straddles the Central Mixedwood and Athabasca Plain Natural Subregions transitional area. The terrain in the park is defined by the crag and tail topography created through the actions... More ≫

Description

This park straddles the Central Mixedwood and Athabasca Plain Natural Subregions transitional area. The terrain in the park is defined by the crag and tail topography created through the actions of glacial ice and meltwater. Crags refer to the knobs or areas of exposed bedrock located on the up-ice side of the landform, while the tails are the trailing elongate bodies on the lee side of the landform and generally consist of erodible bedrock (American Geological Institute 1984 in Alberta Natural Heritage Information Centre 1998). The bedrock patches in this area are generally quite small; however they are very distinct, and do provide defining character for the park landscape This park is located in a relatively remote region of the province and little documented information is currently available for this area. Much of the information currently used to describe this area has been extrapolated from more intensively studied areas near Lake Athabasca to the north and the Athabasca Sand...

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Guidelines for natural heritage inventories in parks and protected areas

Description

The guidelines in this document are intended to provide a basic framework upon which inventories can be structured, and some of the things that need to be considered when conducting a natural... More ≫

Description

The guidelines in this document are intended to provide a basic framework upon which inventories can be structured, and some of the things that need to be considered when conducting a natural heritage inventory in a provincial park or other type of protected area, either existing or proposed. Further, the guidelines are intended to provide a measure of consistency and standardization when collecting data for and providing data to the Alberta Natural Heritage Information Centre (ANHIC) and to other units or groups that collect and use natural heritage data.

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Preliminary classification of silver sagebrush (Artemisia cana) community types

Description

The Nature Conservancy has developed a standardised hierarchical system to facilitate the identification and classification of vegetated terrestrial communities (Schneider et al. 1997; NatureServe... More ≫

Description

The Nature Conservancy has developed a standardised hierarchical system to facilitate the identification and classification of vegetated terrestrial communities (Schneider et al. 1997; NatureServe 2000). The upper hierarchical levels (class and subclass) are based on vegetation structure, height and leaf form; the middle levels (group and formation) are based on climate, hydrology and leaf form; the lowest levels (alliance and association) are based on floristic composition of the uppermost strata (alliance) and total floristic composition (association). An important aspect to the classification is that the community elements are related to a set of environmental factors rather than to a particular site, allowing the classification to have ecological meaning over a broad geographical range. The lowest level of the hierarchy (the plant association) has a definite floristic composition and uniform physiography, and represents uniform habitat conditions. Habitat refers to the...

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A preliminary classification of the Rocky Mountain shrubland communities of Alberta

Description

The Alberta Natural Heritage Information Centre (ANHIC) collects, analyses and disseminates information on the natural biodiversity of Alberta. One of the elements of diversity which ANHIC... More ≫

Description

The Alberta Natural Heritage Information Centre (ANHIC) collects, analyses and disseminates information on the natural biodiversity of Alberta. One of the elements of diversity which ANHIC monitors are plant community types. Plant communities of special conservation concern are placed on tracking and watch lists which are being developed for the province (Allen 2000). Much of the vegetation of Alberta is still poorly understood, and ANHIC has identified several high priority vegetation groups that require further study and classification. One such high priority group is the shrubland communities of the Rocky Mountain Natural Region. The objective of this report was to develop a better understanding of the shrubland community types of the Rocky Mountain Natural Region through the numerical classification of existing plot data.

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Preliminary classification of plains rough fescue (Festuca hallii) community types within the central parkland subregion of Alberta

Description

This preliminary classification will focus on native grassland community types containing plains rough fescue and less than 25% shrub cover. Disturbances such as over-grazing, mowing, breaking of... More ≫

Description

This preliminary classification will focus on native grassland community types containing plains rough fescue and less than 25% shrub cover. Disturbances such as over-grazing, mowing, breaking of the soil, etc. can alter the species composition of grasslands, introducing a variety of non-native grasses and forbs and shifting the dominance of native species. Due to the wide array of community types that could result, such disturbed (modified) grasslands have not been included in this classification. Following phase III, which includes the field verification of remnant plains rough fescue grasslands, such modified fescue associations may be described.

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Special features in Alberta : proposed framework for site identification and initial evaluation of potential special features sites

Description

The report covers three areas. First, it proposes a process to identify “special features” in Alberta and define their conservation status. This process is intended to complement the coarse filter... More ≫

Description

The report covers three areas. First, it proposes a process to identify “special features” in Alberta and define their conservation status. This process is intended to complement the coarse filter or “top down” approach of Alberta’s Special Places program which attempts to capture environmental diversity by protecting broad landscapes or Level 1 Natural History Themes. The Special Features Report takes the opposite, or “bottom up”, approach to identify individual plant or animal species and communities, or landforms, that are limited in distribution or size, or are truly unique examples of Alberta’s natural diversity. It does not address species such as grizzly bears, wolves or caribou, which are dealt with in separate broader-based management plans. Second, the Report also provides a framework and criteria for evaluating special features and determining whether to recommend that they be considered for inclusion into the provincial system of protected areas. The evaluation criteria...

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Potentially trackable plant communities : foothills and Rocky Mountain natural regions

Description

Timberline Forestry Inventory Consultants Ltd was asked to prepare a list of potentially trackable communities from the Ellis report, and to add communities that had been described subsequent to... More ≫

Description

Timberline Forestry Inventory Consultants Ltd was asked to prepare a list of potentially trackable communities from the Ellis report, and to add communities that had been described subsequent to its preparation. The process of identifying “trackable” communities has been conducted previously through a team approach in the Western U.S., where several people jointly evaluated all communities and reached consensus on “trackable” elements. For the Alberta pilot, an explicit data-based means of identifying potentially trackable communities was undertaken in order to streamline the process of reviewing textual descriptions.

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