Land-use Planning Regions:
TOTAL AREA:
85,781 km2
TOTAL Human Footprint:
47,042 km2
Region Overview
The North Saskatchewan Region, an area covering 85,781 km2 or 18% of Alberta, bisects the province from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Saskatchewan border in the east and encompasses a diversity of ecosystems and land uses. This region includes five of Alberta’s six Natural Regions: Rocky Mountain, Foothills, Boreal Forest, Parkland, and Grassland. Forestry is an important industry in the Foothills Natural Region. In the Parkland, Grassland, and Boreal Forest Natural Regions, there are a range of land uses—agriculture, industrial development, and urban expansion—as well as the transportation infrastructure to support these activities. Privately owned land makes up more than 60% of the region. Human footprint status and trends are summarized for the North Saskatchewan Region.
Status
As of 2021, human footprint occupied 55.6% of the North Saskatchewan Region. Agriculture was the dominant human footprint, covering 44.5% of the region. The following human footprint categories occupied similar areas: forestry (3.0%), transportation (2.9%), urban/industrial (2.8%), and energy (2.1%). Human-created water bodies occupied <1.0% of the region.
| Human Footprint Type | Area (km2) | Area (%) |
|---|
Figure: Status of Human Footprint. Summary of percentage cover of total human footprint broken down by human footprint category in the North Saskatchewan Region, circa 2021.
Trend
- Between 2000 and 2021, the total area of human footprint in the North Saskatchewan Region increased by 3.6 percentage points, from 52.0% to 55.6%.
- The footprints that expanded the most during this time period were: forestry (+1.9%), urban/industrial (+0.8%), and energy (+0.5%).
| Human Footprint Type | 2000 (km2) | 2021 (km2) | Change (km2) |
|---|
| Human Footprint Type | 2000 (%) | 2021 (%) | Change (%) |
|---|
Figure: Trend in Human Footprint. Trend in the percentage area of total human footprint, and by human footprint category in the North Saskatchewan Region between 2000 and 2021. Click on the entries in the legend to turn human footprint categories on and off.
Status of Linear Human Footprint
- Density of linear features was 2.8 km/km2 in the North Saskatchewan Region.
- Roads, with a density of 1.1 km/km2, were the predominant line type, representing 39.3% of linear footprint in the region.
- Conventional seismic lines and pipelines each represented 28.6% of total linear footprint in the region, at 0.8 km/km2.
- Transmission lines and railways had very low densities.
| Type | Density (km/km2) |
|---|
Figure: Status of Linear Human Footprint. Density (km/km2) of linear features in the North Saskatchewan Region, circa 2021, overall and broken down by linear feature type. Hover over bar or legend to view density of specific linear feature type. Please note low impact seismic lines are not included in the summary of linear footprint density.