Natural Regions:
TOTAL AREA:
9,719 km2
TOTAL Human Footprint:
7 km2
Region Overview
The Canadian Shield Natural Region occupies an area of 9,719 km2 or 1.5% of the province in the northeastern corner of Alberta. This relatively flat landscape is predominately covered by exposed bedrock and glacial deposits interspersed with numerous shallow lakes and wetlands. What vegetation there is occurs in “pockets” such as rock crevices or other sheltered locations where enough soil has accumulated for plants to take root. Jack Pine uplands and Black Spruce bogs make up most of the vegetation. Common plants in the understory include Bearberry, Common Blueberry, Bog Cranberry, Labrador Tea, feathermosses, and a variety of drought-tolerant ferns. Lichen communities form patchy carpets on rock faces and slopes, and on the forest floor. The variety of habitats from lakes and wetlands to upland and lowland forests, rocky cliffs and islands, provides habitat for diverse wildlife species. Human footprint status and trends are presented for the Canadian Shield Natural Region
Status
As of 2021, total human footprint in the Canadian Shield Natural Region occupied 0.07% of the area, and included transportation (0.04%) and urban/industrial (0.03%) footprint types.
| 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 Canadian Shield Natural Region, circa 2021.
Trend
- Between 2000 and 2021, the total area of human footprint in the Canadian Shield Natural Region increased by 0.03 percentage points, from 0.04% to 0.07%.
- Urban/industrial footprint increased by 0.03 percentage points, from 0.00% to 0.03%, and transportation footprint increased by 0.01 percentage points, from 0.03% to 0.04%.
| 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 Canadian Shield Natural 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 very low in the Canadian Shield Natural Region, at 0.04 km/km2.
- The two linear feature types in the region were conventional seismic lines (0.03 km/km2) and roads (0.01 km/km2).
| Type | Density (km/km2) |
|---|
Figure: Status of Linear Human Footprint. Density (km/km2) of linear features in the Canadian Shield Natural 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.