Alberta Watershed Interior Habitat Indicator 2010-2018

Alberta Environment and Protected Areas developed an Interior Habitat Indicator measuring the percentage of area beyond a set distance from human footprint. Values are provided for all Hydrologic Unit Code 8 (HUC 8) watersheds in Alberta for the years 2010, 2014, 2016, and 2018. The indicator is calculated using wall-to-wall Human Footprint Inventories from the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in interior habitat percentage across HUC 8 watersheds from 2010 to 2018.
• Model the relationship between human footprint data and interior habitat indicator values for specific watersheds.
• Compare habitat fragmentation levels between different HUC 8 watersheds using the calculated percentage area.
• Assess changes in interior habitat following policy changes by tracking the indicator across four time points.

Strengths

• Four temporal snapshots (2010, 2014, 2016, 2018) enable trend analysis.
• Province-wide coverage for all HUC 8 watersheds in Alberta.
• Indicator derived from standardized wall-to-wall Human Footprint Inventories.

Limitations

• Unknown sample size (number of HUC 8 watersheds) and row count.
• Data updates are infrequent, with the latest snapshot from 2018.
• Geographic scope is limited to the province of Alberta.

Provenance

Source

Government of Alberta, Alberta Environment and Protected Areas.

Collection Method

Calculated using rounded buffers from edges of Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute's Human Footprint Inventories.

Time Range

2010, 2014, 2016, 2018

Freshness

Data current through 2018; metadata last updated March 2026.

Geography

Province of Alberta, Canada, at the Hydrologic Unit Code 8 (HUC 8) watershed level.