Ministry of Environment Sensitive Ecosystems Inventories

What’s New

March 2007

• New RISC mapping standard:

Ministry of Environment. 2006. Standard for Mapping Ecosystems at Risk in British Columbia: An approach to mapping ecosystems at risk and other sensitive ecosystems. Version 1. B.C. Minist. Environ., Victoria, BC. 98pp. (PDF 728 KB)

The report describes British Columbia standards for mapping ecosystems at risk including sensitive Ecosystems unit characterization, field sampling, mapping procedures, legends, map symbols and reporting. It also outlines procedures for modelling Sensitive Ecosystems from TEM, PEM and BEI. Core data attributes collected for all Sensitive Ecosystems mapping projects in British Columbia are described, in addition to other attributes that are recommended to support conservation planning. Methods for mapping and evaluating ecological integrity of CDC element occurrences from Sensitive Ecosystems are described.

January 2004

• Our look—that’s what’s new! Check out our newly organized and updated site!

• CENTRAL OKANAGAN: The Central Okanagan SEI is now complete. Spatial and attribute data, wildlife interpretations and reports are available on EcoCat, the Ecosystems Report Catalogue (formerly AquaCat). Click here to go directly to the Central Okanagan project.

• WEB ATLAS PRODUCTS: SEI maps and data, complete with Field Data Reports for the Capital Regional District (including the southern Gulf Islands) are available on the CRD Natural Areas Atlas at http://www.crd.bc.ca/maps/natural/index.htm. SEI maps and data for the Sunshine Coast Regional District are available on the Sunshine Coast Habitat Atlas at http://habitat.scrd.bc.ca/.

• PRELIMINARY SEI AUDIT: A preliminary audit of the SEI for Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands was conducted by the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection to examine the disturbance to SEI polygons since the original mapping in 1993-1997. See http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/vir/pa/sei_short.pdf (PDF 358KB) for a summary of their findings.

• SEI VANCOUVER ISLAND DISTURBANCE MAPPING: The results of the preliminary audit (see above) highlighted the need to comprehensively update the spatial coverage of the SEI for Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. A full re-evaluation and redigitizing of SEI Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands polygons is nearing completion, and will provide detailed information on ecosystem loss since the original SEI. Sensitive ecosystems that had been disturbed since the original inventory was conducted (a period of approximately ten years) were redigitized to exclude disturbed portions and to measure the total number of hectares disturbed.

  The areas of disturbance were identified by digitally overlaying the original polygons (which had been identified on air photos taken primarily between 1990 and 1992) on more recent photographs taken in July-August 2002. Visible disturbance - from logging, urban or rural use, roads, trails, recreation, agriculture or industrial use - was delineated and removed from the dataset and the type of disturbance noted. In addition, major riparian corridors have been re-evaluated and polygons added to the dataset.

  Preliminary results of this disturbance mapping show some disturbing figures. Over 8,000 ha (10%) of the area occupied by the nine SEI ecosystem types in the early 1990s had been disturbed by 2002. Areas lost to disturbance since the original inventory have been retained on the maps to increase awareness of the escalating loss of natural ecosystems and to encourage conservation of remaining natural ecosystems. It is now even more critical that all possible land use options be evaluated before initiating any further changes to these rare and fragile ecosystems.