West of 4th Meridian Historical Forest Inventory Maps, 1970-1984

Phase 3 Forest Inventory maps were created from 1970 to 1984 based on a 1966 federal-provincial task force recommendation. The Government of Alberta's Forestry, Lands and Wildlife Department initiated the program to inform forest management and timber harvest quotas. The inventory covers Alberta's Green Area and fringe areas from that time, excluding specific northern units and federal lands.

Use Cases

• Study historical forest cover types based on aerial photo interpretation mentioned in the description
• Analyze the extent of Alberta's Green Area and fringe areas from the 1970-1984 period
• Research forest management planning and allowable cut revisions as described in the program's intent

Strengths

• Data collection spans a defined 14-year period from 1970 to 1984
• Covers a specific, documented geographic area (Alberta's Green Area and fringe areas)
• Has a clear stated purpose to facilitate forest management and quota revision

Limitations

• Maps are not available as geo-referenced rectified images or GIS-ready data
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Data may reflect temporal bias inherent to its 1970-1984 collection period

Provenance

Source

Government of Alberta | Gouvernement de l'Alberta

Collection Method

Cover types were interpreted from aerial photography (mainly 1:15,000 black and white) to generate hardcopy maps.

Time Range

1970 to 1984

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-17 14:37:07.161446; freshness should be verified

Geography

Alberta, Canada (West of 4th Meridian), specifically the Green Area and fringe areas of the time.