NEBC Wildlife Annual Status

The BCER NEBC Annual Status datasets are updated and published annually by the BC Energy Regulator to evaluate the level of disturbance in designated areas in northeast BC. This information is useful in operational planning and decision making to support consideration of material adverse effect. This dataset includes a disturbance metric for Wildlife Habitat Areas (WHA) and Ungulate Winter Ranges (UWR). The dataset reports percentage disturbance at the WHA and UWR level and identifies areas as being low, medium, or high risk, depending on the level of disturbance. This information supports consideration of WHA and UWR in decision making under the Environmental Protection and Management Regulation. Field validation of this data is encouraged in development planning. The Wildlife Annual Status dataset was initially developed by the BC Energy Regulator for consideration disturbance within WHA and UWR in Northeast BC. Data was derived from the provincial WHA and UWR datasets. Disturbance is estimated using the BCER Surface Land Use data that is updated annually. The risk status is calculated differently for WHA and UWR, and for small and large Wildlife Habitat Areas. Details as follows: Wildlife Habitat Area Low Risk WHA Intactness >=98% for small WHA (<=100ha) Intactness >=97% for large WHA (>100ha) Medium Risk WHA Intactness >= 95% and < 98% for small WHA Intactness >= 90% and < 97 % for large WHA High Risk WHA Intactness <95% for small WHA Intactness <90% for large WHA Ungulate Winter Range Low risk UWR Intactness >=95% for UWR Medium Risk UWR Intactness >= 85% and < 95% for UWR High Risk UWR Intactness <85 for UWR Data Properties Attributes / Column Name Field Alias Data Type Data Precision Comments OBJECTID Object ID Object ID Unique row number auto generated by database SHAPE Shape Geometry (Polygon) SHAPE.AREA Double Area auto calculated by database (m2) SHAPE.LEN Double Polygon perimeter auto calculated by database (m) AREA_ID Area Identifier Text This field is based on the WHA or UWR tag assigned by government to each designated area. For UWR this includes a combination of the UWR tag and the subunit tag. DISTURBANCE_RANK Level of Disturbance Text 6 Low, medium or high (depending on the level of disturbance in the UWR or WHA) INTACTNESS Intactness (%) Double Percentage intactness TRIGGER_HIGH High Rank Trigger Short High risk trigger (percent) TRIGGER_HIGH_HA High Rank Trigger (Ha) Double High risk trigger (hectares) TRIGGER_MEDIUM Medium Rank Trigger Short Medium risk trigger (percent) TRIGGER_MEDIUM_HA Medium Rank Trigger (Ha) Double Medium risk trigger (hectares) WHA_AREA_HA Wildlife Habitat Area (Ha) Double Area of WHA (hectares) SOURCE Designated Area Type Text 10 This field defines if the area is a UWR or WHA COMMON_SPECIES Common Species Text 50 The primary species for which the designated area was established POLY_AREA_HA Feature Area (Ha) Double UWR_AREA_HA Ungulate Winter Range Area (Ha) Double Area of UWR (hectares) CROWN_AREA_HA Crown Land Area (Ha) Double Area crown land (hectares) CURRENT_COND_HA Current Condition Area (Ha) Double Current Condition (hectares) SLU_DATE Surface Land Use Date Text 10 Vintage of disturbance data used in calculations. OWN_CLASS Land Owner Classification Text 10 Land Ownership Class WILD_ID Wildlife Area ID Short Wildlife Area Identifier Renewal Triggers and Service Levels Annual updates Contact Information: For further information please contact Jacqueline Howard Environmental Management Specialist Responsible Development & Stewardship [e-mail]