Natural resource development, agriculture, settlements, and infrastructure combine to cause substantial disturbance to watersheds across Canada. The cumulative effect of this disturbance on ecosystems and accessibility of the land have important implications to the ability of Indigenous people to practice traditional land uses such as hunting, fishing, and gathering.
This mapping tool applies geospatial inventories of development footprint to map cumulative disturbance for secondary watersheds in Canada. Following the approach used in the Atlas of Cumulative Landscape Disturbance in the Traditional Territory of Blueberry River First Nations, the tool maps development footprint with and without buffers of 250 m and 500 m. The purpose of the buffers is to represent ecological effects that extend beyond direct development footprint.
Click on a watershed to view its cumulative disturbance by development footprint. Once a watershed is selected, click a link to view a map of the footprints either with or without the buffers applied. Disturbance statistics and maps are currently available for the provinces only. We hope to expand the tool to the territories in the future.
In western Canada, seismic lines (i.e., cutlines used during energy exploration) can cover large portions of watersheds when buffered. Although seismic lines can have significant impacts on ecosystems, the footprint metrics are calculated both with and without seismic lines included because they likely have a smaller impact than more intensive disturbances such as roads and industrial facilities.
The mapping tool is provided by the Integral Ecology Group to improve awareness about cumulative effects in Canada. For more information on IEG’s work on Indigenous cumulative effects assessment, please visit https://www.integralecologygroup.com/alces-flow/indigenous-led-cumulative-effects-assessment/
Note: Footprint mapping is not yet available for the territories. Please select a watershed in one of the provinces.