Canadian Vegetation Height and Northern Forest Limit from 1985-2021

A Canada-wide map of vegetation height and the delineation of the northern forest limit at 30-meter spatial resolution. Predictions for six time periods from 1985-2021 were generated using Random Forests models trained on ICESat-2 LiDAR and Landsat imagery. The dataset was developed by the Canadian Forest Service and the University of British Columbia, with methods published in 2024 and 2025.

Use Cases

• Modeling climate change impacts on the boreal-tundra ecotone based on the delineated northern forest limit.
• Analyzing vegetation height trends over a ~35-year period based on the six modeled time-periods.
• Mapping the probability of canopy presence across Canada based on the modeled height and probability layers.

Strengths

• Spatially explicit predictions at 30-meter resolution for the entire country of Canada.
• Covers six distinct time periods spanning from 1985 to 2021.
• Derived from integrated ICESat-2 LiDAR and Landsat time-series data, with methods detailed in peer-reviewed publications.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, and the University of British Columbia.

Collection Method

Random Forests models applied to ICESat 2 LiDAR (2019-2021) and Landsat imagery archive (~35 years).

Time Range

1985-2021, modeled for six overlapping periods.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-16 16:03:26.073093; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Canada-wide.