Riparian Habitat Shoreline Assessment for Red Deer River Watershed

Project Returns for Riparian Area Assessment of Red Deer River Watershed quantifies and characterizes the intactness of riparian management areas in Alberta. The dataset covers approximately 9,316 km of shoreline across seven subwatersheds, an area of about 22,904 km². It was created for the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance by the Government of Alberta and was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyze riparian habitat intactness scores across different shoreline types (lake, creek, stream, river).
• Map the spatial distribution of assessed riparian management areas across the ~22,904 km² project region.
• Compare shoreline condition metrics between the Buffalo, Kneehills, Little Red Deer, and Threehills subwatersheds.
• Correlate riparian health data with other environmental datasets using the geospatial location features.
• Monitor changes in riparian habitat over time using the project's baseline assessment data.

Strengths

• Covers a large spatial area of approximately 22,904 km² across seven subwatersheds.
• Assesses riparian habitat along a substantial length of shoreline, totaling roughly 9,316 km.
• Provides a standardized assessment focused on quantifying riparian intactness.

Limitations

• Specific column names, data types, and row counts are unknown, limiting immediate analysis.
• Data is provided in XML and ZIP formats, which may require specialized tools for parsing and visualization.
• The assessment is a snapshot in time; temporal trends cannot be analyzed without subsequent data releases.

Provenance

Source

Government of Alberta, created for the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance.

Collection Method

Field assessment of riparian habitat along lake, creek, stream, and river shorelines.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Data was last updated in March 2026, indicating it is current.

Geography

Seven subwatersheds (Buffalo, Kneehills, Little Red Deer, Threehills, Michichi, Raven, Rosebud) in central Alberta, between Ponoka and Airdrie.