Environmental Thematic Maps and Graphics:
Human landscape modification index, highly modified regions, 2011

The title of this map is “Human landscape modification index, highly modified regions, 2011.” This map provides a visual representation of the degree to which land in Canada has been modified from its natural state due to human activity as of the year 2011. The human landscape modification index (HLMI) is based on land use, natural and semi-natural patch size and linear feature density. Higher HLMI scores indicate a higher degree of modification from the natural ecosystem state, while lower HLMI scores indicate lower rates of modification.

On the page, there are three maps and a legend to the upper right. The top map shows the HLMI for all of Canada, while the bottom maps display HLMI scores at a finer scale for two regions of Canada that are the most heavily modified by human activity: the Prairies and southern Ontario and Quebec. Each map depicts ecoprovinces with a thin black boundary line and ecoprovinces are labeled with a code. Below the maps, ecoprovince codes and their corresponding names are listed for reference.

The map shows the degree of human modification through a colour gradient. The legend has a colour gradient from red to green, where red is most modified and green is least modified.

The national map shows the highest HLMI scores are in southern Ontario and Quebec and the southern Prairie provinces, where grassland, wetland and forest ecosystems have been converted to agroecosystems and urban centres and where there is more landscape fragmentation. The lowest HLMI scores are found in the North, since much of the landscape remains intact with few direct modifications. On the map of the Prairies, the cities of Calgary, Edmonton and Alberta are visible as areas with high HLMI scores, while areas used for agriculture show a relatively high degree of human modification. On the map of southern Ontario and Quebec, the large urban centres of Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal are visible as areas with high HLMI scores, while surrounding areas where agricultural activity and population levels are high also show a relatively high degree of human modification.

Notes: The human landscape modification index (HLMI) is a composite index used to measure direct human modifications to the landscape based on the degree that an area has been modified from a natural or semi-natural state. Values range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more intensively-used ecosystems.

Sources:
Statistics Canada, Environment and Energy Statistics Division, 2021, special tabulation based on Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), 2015, Land Use, 2010, https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/18e3ef1a-497c-40c6-8326-aac1a34a0dec (accessed June 1, 2020);
Natural Resources Canada, 2017, Topographic Data of Canada - CanVec Series, https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/8ba2aa2a-7bb9-4448-b4d7-f164409fe056 (accessed December 21, 2020);
Statistics Canada, 2017, Road Network File, 2016, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/92-500-X (accessed December 21, 2020);
AAFC, 2016, Interpolated Census of Agriculture, https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/1dee8513-5c73-43b6-9446-25f7b985cd00 (accessed December 3, 2020);
Guindon, L., et al., 2017, Canada Landsat Disturbance (CanLaD): a Canada-wide Landsat-based 30-m resolution product of fire and harvest detection and attribution since 1984, https://doi.org/10.23687/add1346b-f632-4eb9-a83d-a662b38655ad (accessed July 20, 2020);
data files downloaded from https://opendata.nfis.org/mapserver/nfis-change_eng.html (accessed July 20, 2020).