Environmental Sensitivity Project (2015)

data.edmonton.ca | Last Updated 13 Dec 2022

Historically, the City of Edmonton has managed ‘natural areas’ within the North Saskatchewan River Valley and the Tablelands separately, guided by inventories such as the Ribbon of Green and Geowest (1993). Over the past decade, City policy has shifted to manage natural areas with consideration of their role within an ecological network. Today, a goal of the City is to protect, preserve and enhance a functioning ecological network throughout the city limits. This network should include lands in both the river valley and the Tablelands. To further this goal, a model was developed in 2015 for determining environmental sensitivity scores across the entirety of the city. This model guided the collection of several digital data layers with coverage across the entire study area (including several ecological assets, threats to assets, and development and cultural constraints). Data layers were then used to develop spatial outputs that summarized the distribution of these assets, threats and constraints. These base layers have been compiled into this dataset to help inform planning, development and conservation throughout Edmonton. Environmental sensitivity analysis incorporated recent mapping of the ecological network of native and non-native vegetation, streams, wetlands and other waterbodies as much as possible, with practical limitations. The City’s urban Primary Land and Vegetation Inventory (uPLVI) and remote sensing data used for this assessment were completed in 2015 and 2013 respectively, which is relatively recent, but not current. Similarly, infrastructure data (roads, subdivision development and stormwater facilities) provided varied in month of acquisition from 2015. Some discrepancy between mapped and actual features may result, due to loss and changes from ongoing development activities.

This dataset has the following 33 columns:

Column NameAPI Column NameData TypeDescriptionSample Values
the_geomthe_geommultipolygongeospatial information
Provincial Wildlife Recordafwmis1numberFWMIS Wildlife records
Sensitive Fish Habitatafishstur1numberProvincial fish data (Code of Practice maps of sensitive aquatic habitats, supplemented with newer known locations of sensitive fish species (sturgeon) held by Alberta Environment and Parks - 2016).
Municipal Natural Areaaprolanna2numberLegally Protected Lands (other City of Edmonton, University of Alberta and Province of Alberta Natural Areas - 2015)
Environmental Reserveaprolaner2numberLegally Protected Lands (designated as Environmental Reserve - 2015)
Provincial Parkaprolanpp3numberLegally Protected Lands (Alberta Provincial Parks - 2015)
Modelled Microclimateamicrocli1numberMicroclimate (modelled Microclimate identified as areas that contained a remotely sensed combination of steep slope and sunny/shaded aspect - 2012)
Stormwater Pond (Naturalized)aswmfnat1numberNaturalized SWMF (Stormwater management facilities designed to mimic natural wetland processes - 2015)
Wildlife Occurrence (ACIMS)anonsense1numberNon-Sensitive EOS (ACIMS Non-sensitive Element Occurrence data - 2016)
Aquatic Habitataaquhab1numberAquatic River and Bank Habitat (source: North Saskatchewan River Valley & Ravine System Biophysical Study, EPEC 1981)
Streamsastream2numberRemotely sensed stream mapping (source: hydrological analysis of 2012 LiDAR mapped using the Strahler ordering technique. Only ephemeral to permanent streams were used in analysis)
Natural Vegetationavegnat2numberRemotely sensed terrestrial natural vegetation (source: vegetation analysis of 2012 LiDAR and full‐spectrum remote sensing imagery intersected with Edmonton’s uPLVI to separate native from non-native vegetation)
NonNatural Vegetationavegnonat1numberRemotely sensed terrestrial non-natural vegetation (source: vegetation analysis of 2012 LiDAR and full‐spectrum remote sensing imagery intersected with Edmonton’s uPLVI to separate native from non-native vegetation)
Desktop Derived Wetlandsawetland1numberDesktop Derived Wetlands excluding anthropogenic water bodies and stormwater ponds (source: remotely sensed using a combination of depression analysis (2012 LiDAR (1 m) data) and wetland vegetation classification using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index measurement of spectral reluctance values captured in 2013 four band orthoimagery.
Unique Landformsauniqland1numberUnique landscape level landforms including the Devon Dunes, Beaver Hills Moraine, and North Saskatchewan River Valley and Ravine System
Unique Native Vegetationauniqveg1numberUnique Native Vegetation (source: unique veg communities/soil moistures/texture as identified and analyzed from Edmonton’s uPLVI and vegetation sample plot data)
Arboreal Wildlife Corridorachickcor1numberChickadee Corridors
Terrestrial Wildlife Corridoracoyotcor1numberCoyote Winter Corridors
Floodplaincfloodpla2numberFloodplain - Areas at risk of periodic flooding, 1:100 year event (Alberta Environment and Parks flood risk mapping for the North Saskatchewan River Valley and parts of the Sturgeon River valley (2015). Note: floodplain mapping has not been completed for Edmonton’s ravines and along the shores of Big Lake)
Floodwaycfloodway1numberFloodway - Areas at risk of periodic flooding, 1:100 year event (Alberta Environment and Parks flood risk mapping for the North Saskatchewan River Valley and parts of the Sturgeon River valley (2015). Note: floodway mapping has not been completed for Edmonton’s ravines and along the shores of Big Lake)
Major Slope (>30°)cslopemaj2numberRemotely sensed major slopes (Slopes >30°)
Moderate Slope (15-30°)cslopemod1numberRemotely sensed major slopes (Slopes 15-30°)
Land Use Threat - Lowtlandusel1numberLand Use Threat - Low
Land Use Threat - Moderatetlandusem2numberLand Use Threat - Moderate
Land Use Threat - Very Lowtlandusev0numberLand Use Threat - Very Low
Outfallstoutfall1numberOutfall location (2015)
Stormwater Ponds (Traditional)tswmf1numberTraditional SWMF (Stormwater management facilities surrounded by maintained turf containing limited wetland vegetation)
Asset and Constraint ScoreassconecnumberTotal of Asset and Constraint Scores
Threat ScorethreatscnumberTotal Threat Score
ScorescorenumberFinal Score (Asset + Constraint Score - Threat Score = Final Environmental Sensitivity Score)
ValuevaluetextEnvironmental Sensitivity Value (Low, Moderate, High, Very High, Extremely High Value)
Asset ScoreassetscnumberTotal Asset Score
Area (ha)area_hanumberArea in hectares (ha)