Land Use Mapping for the St. Lawrence Lowlands Conservation Atlas

Environment and Climate Change Canada and the MDDELCC produced an updated land use map for the St. Lawrence Lowlands under the St. Lawrence Action Plan. The project integrates existing cartographic products to create a homogeneous dataset covering agricultural, aquatic, anthropogenic, wooded, humid, and bare soil environments. This mapping supports the development of an Atlas of territories of interest for conservation.

Use Cases

• Identify priority natural environments for biodiversity conservation based on the integrated land use classification.
• Plan conservation strategies for the St. Lawrence Lowlands based on the spatial distribution of ecosystems.
• Analyze changes in land cover over time by comparing this updated map to historical products.
• Model habitat connectivity and fragmentation based on the mapped wooded and wetland environments.

Strengths

• Data is produced by authoritative government bodies (Environment and Climate Change Canada and MDDELCC).
• Mapping is based on integrating and improving the best existing cartographic products for each theme.
• Covers a specific, large territory (the St. Lawrence Lowlands) with a focus on homogeneity.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The description metadata is medium-completeness; actual data quality requires manual inspection.

Provenance

Source

Environment and Climate Change Canada in collaboration with the MDDELCC (Government and Municipalities of Québec).

Collection Method

Integration and improvement of existing cartographic products for themes like agricultural, aquatic, and wooded environments.

Time Range

Project initiated under the St. Lawrence Action Plan, active since 1988; mapping represents a contemporary snapshot.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-22 18:13:06.204283; freshness should be verified.

Geography

St. Lawrence Lowlands, Canada.