wetland mapper
Preserving our wetlands starts with one simple step. Our unique mapping tool is a quick and easy way to assess your impact on the environment.
Cutting-edge approach
Simply indicate your area of interest on a map, and our highly-trained team will identify the wetlands using high-resolution satellite imagery, publicly available field-verified data and historic imagery. All results are verified by a Qualified Wetland Specialist and Practitioner (QWSP).
Environmentally-conscious planning
The information we provide can help you make informed decisions as you plan developments or changes to your land. Ideally, it can show you how to avoid or minimize wetland disturbances. It can also give you an understanding of potential wetland replacement costs.
Uses for the wetland mapper.
Identifying and delineating wetlands is valuable for clients working in a variety of areas.
Municipalities
Restoring or conserving wetlands will ensure you can continue to benefit from the ecosystem goods and services they provide. You can also protect source water and infrastructure, while reducing the cost of providing water filtration and flood mitigation services to residences.
Landowners
Knowing where wetlands are located on your property helps to facilitate the subdivision process, determine availability for livestock, estimate mitigation to remove a wetland or identify restoration opportunities to receive payment through the Provincial Wetland Replacement Program.
Infrastructure Developers
By identifying the number and area of each wetland basin, as well as wetland class types, you can minimize potential risks associated with impacting wetlands. We can also provide high-level environmental constraints or environmental sensitivity mapping for project planning initiatives.
Your results are within easy reach
Simply provide us with some basic information, and our team of experts will get to work.
Step One
Select your area(s) of interest on our online Wetland Mapper Portal.
Step Two
Choose the Desktop Assessment and complete and submit your online order request.
Step Three
Once the order is received, our wetland mapping team identifies and delineates wetlands with the area(s) of interest and provides a summary report of results and next steps.
Step Four
Move forward with your development, restoration and project goals with confidence in your knowledge of the wetlands present on your desired plot of land.
How to Use the Wetland Mapper
Affordable Solutions
Our innovative platform gives you significant cost savings over traditional methods.
wetland mapper questions
Under the provincial Water Act, landowners do not “own” the water in any waterbody, including wetlands, even if the wetland or waterbody areas are not listed within a legal land survey. Since the implementation of the Alberta Wetland Policy in 2013, all impacts to wetlands must be mitigated following the mitigation hierarchy of prioritizing wetland avoidance first, followed by minimization, and as a last resort wetland replacement, where negative impacts cannot be avoided or mitigated. As such, any impacts to wetlands (including peatlands and swamps), such as draining, infilling, or other modifications, require that a provincial Water Act approval application, along with a Wetland Assessment and Impact Report, including a wetland mitigation and replacement plan, be completed and filed with Alberta Environment and Parks.
Under the Alberta Wetland Policy, wetlands are defined as any area of land that holds water for a long enough period of time to promote the formation of water altered soils, establishment of water loving plants and associated biological activity adapted to wet environments. These include mineral wetlands (shallow open water, marshes, and swamps) and peatlands (bogs and fens). It is important to note that wetlands can take many different forms and may or may not contain standing water, as many temporary or seasonal wetlands only hold water for a short period of time (i.e., days to weeks) following a heavy rainfall or after spring melt. Additionally, many wetlands in agricultural areas of the province have been significantly altered due to agricultural production activities and may no longer resemble their natural form. As such, it can be very difficult to accurately identify and delineate wetland areas on the landscape.
Wetland replacement or compensation costs for permanent impacts to a wetland vary depending on the location within the province, the size of the wetland, and the relative value of the wetland. Wetlands that are determined to have a high relative value require higher replacement (compensation) costs than wetlands with a lower relative value, which is based on the wetland replacement ratios set out under the Alberta Wetland Mitigation Directive (2018).
While the Alberta merged wetland inventory provides useful information about the potential number and distribution of wetlands in an area, the accuracy and resolution of the free data is variable, as it represents a composite of 35 different wetland inventories collected over a span of 17 years. As such, it generally does not contain sufficient accuracy and precision to help you predict the cost associated with replacing impacted wetlands.
Using our cutting-edge approach to wetland classification, we are able to deliver a final mapping product within 3 -5 business days after placing your order.
The mapping is up to 95% accurate.
Field verification costs can vary depending on the number of wetlands on a property, but the cost savings are typically between 30-40%.
