Alberta enjoys a wealth of natural features that can be seen in the diversity of our landscapes. They vary from hot, dry badlands to vast, unbroken forests, to alpine tundra and massive ice...
Description
Alberta enjoys a wealth of natural features that can be seen in the diversity of our landscapes. They vary from hot, dry badlands to vast, unbroken forests, to alpine tundra and massive ice fields. The challenge for Albertans is to continue to designate and secure land that will represent the variety of these landscapes within the province. This report provides an overview of the land classification system that is used to describe our natural landscapes and that also serves as a tool to help measure our progress towards completing a network of protected areas. Land classification for protected areas is based on natural or biogeographic features such as geology, landform, soils and hydrology. Other factors affecting classification include an area’s climate, vegetation and wildlife. The classification system is set up so that larger, more general categories of land are identified and then divided into smaller units on the basis of their natural characteristics.