Mapping High Conservation Value and Endangered Forests in the Alberta Foothills Using Spatially Explicit Decision Support Tools

This study focuses  on Endangered Forests and the biological components of the High Conservation Value Forest concept. High Conservation Value and Endangered Forests are identified and mapped based on several ecological components that are globally, regionally, or locally important. These ecological components can be landscape level features or biodiversity related. These components sometimes overlap and at other times are mutually exclusive. Any one component can be enough to identify a specific forest area as a High Conservation Value or Endangered Forest depending on the circumstance, but a full assessment using readily available spatial data of all of the ecological components is warranted before a forest is identified for this purpose.

This study attempts to develop a scientifically defensible analytical approach to mapping High Conservation Value and Endangered Forests using the Alberta Foothills of Canada as a case study. The goal of this project is to help develop solutions for this particular region, but also to develop a decision support approach that can be applied elsewhere advancing the identification and mapping of High Conservation Value and Endangered Forests throughout the world.
This report emphasizes the analytical approach as much as the final results specific to the Alberta Foothills ecoregion.