Land Use Change Analysis

Fears of losing prime agricultural land to urban expansion was a longtime concern dictating land management in Canada. However, beyond these two explicitly anthropocentric concerns, there are other considerations in terms of the downstream ecological importance of other land use types. An initial assessment of ecological risk factors for land use change identify grassland ecosystems as an area of potential adverse ecological effects, and in addition to further investigation with the aim of create a comprehensive conservation strategy, we recommend to the City of Edmonton the immediate implementation of strategies to mitigate further grassland loss and to restore this, and other ecologically-sensitive habitats, where possible.

Below are maps illustrating the land use change in Edmonton from 1966 and 1976. See more figures and the full report here.