Habitat and Biodiversity Assessment

Safe and healthy habitat is the key to sustaining biodiversity, and biodiversity is key to a resilient landscape. A resilient landscape leads to resilience in landowner operations. The Habitat and Biodiversity Assessment Tool (HBAT) focuses on stewardship opportunities to build this resilience that is important to landowners as well as to at-risk wildlife and plants. Stewardship opportunities are selected for your land based on geographic location and existing habitat features, which you will be asked about during the assessment process. The locational information uses known and likely habitats that are suitable for plant, pollinator, and wildlife species at risk to narrow down the stewardship opportunities suggested for your land.

Canadian Forage and Grassland Association

Email: [email protected]
Web: https://www.canadianfga.ca/

Acknowledgements ›

Acknowledgements

A committee of dedicated professionals contributed to the development of the British Columbia HBAT through reviews and discussion. Many thanks to individuals working with British Columbia Forage Council, British Columbia Conservation Data Centre, Ministry of Agriculture and Food - Government of British Columbia, Ministry of Environment - Government of British Columbia, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta, and the Investment Agriculture Foundation. Robin Bloom (ECCC) created the initial blueprint for the HBAT in collaboration with Paul Watson, and Jeff Harder (ECCC) was key in developing the protocol for processing the extensive amounts of data needed for this tool. This Canadian Forage and Grassland Association project has been funded by the Canada Nature Fund through Environment and Climate Change Canada.

With much appreciation, we acknowledge that data that underpins the habitat and biodiversity assessment tool have been generously provided in the spirit of collaborative conservation science by:

BC & North Nocturnal Owl Survey. 2024. British Columbia Nocturnal Owls Survey. Data accessed from NatureCounts, a node of the Avian Knowledge Network, Birds Canada. Available: https://www.naturecounts.ca/. Accessed: [25 July 2024].
BirdLife International and Handbook of the Birds of the World (2022) Bird species distribution maps of the world. Version 2022.2. Available at http://datazone.birdlife.org/ species/requestdis.
British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas. 2024. British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas (2008-2012): point count data. Data accessed from NatureCounts, a node of the Avian Knowledge Network, Birds Canada. Available: https://www.naturecounts.ca/. Accessed: [25 July 2024].
British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas. 2024. British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas (2008-2012): rare species and colonial data. Data accessed from NatureCounts, a node of the Avian Knowledge Network, Birds Canada. Available: https://www.naturecounts.ca/. Accessed: [25 July 2024].
British Columbia Coastal Waterbird Survey. 2024. British Columbia Coastal Waterbirds Survey. Data accessed from NatureCounts, a node of the Avian Knowledge Network, Birds Canada. Available: https://www.naturecounts.ca/. Accessed: [25 July 2024].
British Columbia Coastal Waterbird Survey. 2024. British Columbia Marine Bird Atlas. Data accessed from NatureCounts, a node of the Avian Knowledge Network, Birds Canada. Available: https://www.naturecounts.ca/. Accessed: [25 July 2024].
B.C. Conservation Data Centre: CDC secure data custom request. 20XX. Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. [email protected]
British Columbia open government data via licence (Open Government Licence - British Columbia - Province of British Columbia) from the BC Data Catalogue:
- ALC ALR Polygons; link to source: ALC ALR Polygons - Datasets - Data Catalogue; published by the Agricultural Land Commission
- Critical Habitat for Federally Listed Species at Risk (posted): Critical Habitat for federally-listed species at risk (posted) - Datasets - Data Catalogue; published by Environment Canada
- ParcelMap BC Parcel Fabric: ParcelMap BC Parcel Fabric - Datasets - Data Catalogue; published by Data Systems and Services (DataBC)
- Wildlife Habitat Areas – Approved: Wildlife Habitat Areas - Approved - Datasets - Data Catalogue; Published by the Wildlife, Habitat and Species Recovery
- Wildlife Habitat Areas – Proposed: Wildlife Habitat Areas - Proposed - Datasets - Data Catalogue; Published by the Wildlife, Habitat and Species Recovery
- Wildlife Habitat Features -Incidental Observations – Publicly Available: Wildlife Habitat Features - Incidental Observations - Publicly Available - Datasets - Data Catalogue; published by Knowledge Management
- Wildlife Habitat Features – Survey Observations- Publicly Available: Wildlife Habitat Features - Survey Observations - Publicly Available - Datasets - Data Catalogue; published by Knowledge Management
- Wildlife Species Inventory – Incidental Observations- Publicly Available: Wildlife Species Inventory - Incidental Observations - Publicly Available - Datasets - Data Catalogue; published by Knowledge Management.
- Species and Ecosystems at Risk-Publicly Available Occurrences – CDC: Species and Ecosystems at Risk - Publicly Available Occurrences - CDC - Datasets - Data Catalogue; published by Ecosystems
- Freshwater Atlas Stream Network: Freshwater Atlas Lakes - Fresh Water Atlas Information Page - Data Catalogue; published by GeoBC Branch
- Freshwater Atlas Lakes, Rivers: Freshwater Atlas Lakes - Fresh Water Atlas Information Page - Data Catalogue, published by GeoBC Branch
Canadian Breeding Bird Survey - Any use of Canadian BBS data should acknowledge the hundreds of skilled volunteers in Canada who have participated in the BBS over the years and those who have served as provincial or territorial coordinators for the BBS. In addition, anyone working with BBS GIS data should also acknowledge the hard-working folks with the Boreal Avian Modelling Project (BAM; www.borealbirds.ca), whose collaboration was invaluable to this project.
Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC)
Critical Habitat for Aquatic Species at Risk – Canada: Critical Habitat for Aquatic Species at Risk - Canada - Open Government Portal; published under the Open Government License – Canada. Published by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Davidson, P.J.A., R.J. Cannings, A.R. Couturier, D. Lepage, and C.M. Di Corrado (eds.). 2015. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of British Columbia, 2008-2012. Bird Studies Canada, Delta, B.C. < http://www.birdatlas.bc.ca/ e >Accessed: [September 2024 – February 2025].
eBird Basic Dataset. Version: EBD_relJun-2024. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Jun 2024.
GBIF.org (23 July 2024) GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.x8ydk6
iNaturalist (2024). iNaturalist Research-grade Observations. iNaturalist.org. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/ab3s5x accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-07-23.
iNaturalist community. Observations of birds, ray-finned fish, amphibians, plants, insects, reptiles from British Columbia, Canada, observed on/between January 1, 2000 – December 31, 2024. Exported from https://www.inaturalist.org on January 1, 2025.
Larrivée M, McFarland K, Zhang X, Prudic K, Solis R, Bunsen M, Kerr J (2024). eButterfly Surveys. Version 1.830. Vermont Center for Ecostudies. Sampling event dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/ykxm8x accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-07-23.
NatureServe Canada. 2023. Ecosystem-based Automated Range (EBAR). Ottawa, Canada. Retrieved for multiple species on January 2, 2025 from https://explorer.natureserve.org/
North American Nightjar Survey. 2024. Canadian Nightjar Survey. Data accessed from NatureCounts, a node of the Avian Knowledge Network, Birds Canada. Available: https://www.naturecounts.ca/. Accessed: [25 July 2024].
Observation.org (2024). Observation.org, Nature data from around the World. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/5nilie accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-07-23.
Project NestWatch. 2024. Nest records cards - Alaine Camfield. Data accessed from NatureCounts, a node of the Avian Knowledge Network, Birds Canada. Available: https://www.naturecounts.ca/. Accessed: [25 July 2024].
Project NestWatch. 2024. Nest records cards - Kathy Martin. Data accessed from NatureCounts, a node of the Avian Knowledge Network, Birds Canada. Available: https://www.naturecounts.ca/. Accessed: [25 July 2024].
Project NestWatch. 2024. Project Nestwatch. Data accessed from NatureCounts, a node of the Avian Knowledge Network, Birds Canada. Available: https://www.naturecounts.ca/. Accessed: [25 July 2024].
Richmond, S., A.R. Couturier, P.D. Taylor and D. Lepage. 2015. Analysis and Mapping, in Davidson, P.J.A., R.J. Cannings, A.R. Couturier, D. Lepage, and C.M. Di Corrado (eds.). 2015. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of British Columbia, 2008-2012. Bird Studies Canada, Delta, B.C. < http://www.birdatlas.bc.ca > Accessed: [February 2025].
Trinational Monarch Knowledge Network. 2024. eButterfly. Data accessed from NatureCounts, a node of the Avian Knowledge Network, Birds Canada. Available: https://www.naturecounts.ca/. Accessed: [25 July 2024].
Trinational Monarch Knowledge Network. 2024. Mission Monarch. Data accessed from NatureCounts, a node of the Avian Knowledge Network, Birds Canada. Available: https://www.naturecounts.ca/. Accessed: [25 July 2024].
Trinational Monarch Knowledge Network. 2024. Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper. Data accessed from NatureCounts, a node of the Avian Knowledge Network, Birds Canada.

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