| Variable
Name |
Assigned values |
Comments |
| LANDSAT
"Ontario Land Cover" (e.g.wetland, treed bog, recent burns) |
All 'natural'
features +5 pts
Pastures/Plantations +1 pts
Active Agriculture 0 pts
|
Base point values are low for
natural features because other layers (below) will augment their totals |
| Slope heterogeneity
(Digital Elevation Model) |
0 to +3 pts
|
Highlights areas with
high-potential for ecological diversity. |
| Aspect heterogeneity
(Digital Elevation Model) |
0 to +3 pts |
Highlights areas with high-potential
for ecological diversity. |
| Drainage
30m buffer around non-intermittent, surficial, drainage
features such as rivers, streams and lakes other than the Great Lakes
waterway.
|
+3 pts |
Highlights potential corridors,
as well as riverine, riparian and littoral habitats (which sometimes contain
highly-imperiled organisms). |
| Life Science
Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSIs) |
Prov. significant, >
500 ha in size +15 pts
Prov. significant, < 500 ha in size +10 pts
Reg. significant ANSI +5 pts
|
These layers are combined and each cell receives the point value
of the highest scoring layer that intersectsit (i.e. the overlapping layers
are not summed). Weights the analysis towards documented significant natural
heritage sites. |
| Wetlands |
Prov. significant, > 500 ha in size +15
pts
Prov. significant, < 500 ha in size +10 pts
Other +3 pts
|
| Carolinian Canada
Sites |
+15 pts |
| Older Growth
Woodlands (Woodland Heritage of Southern Ontario (Larson et al. 1999) |
+15 pts |
| Forest Interior
Outlines |
> 500 hectares +3 pts |
Adds additional value to large
woodlands. |
| Forest Interior
"Internal" Buffers |
> 100 m in from forest
edge +2 pts |
This increases the value
of areas between 100 and 200 metres from road edge to a value equivalent
to drainage buffers. |
| Forest Cover
Concentration within 2 and 10km |
Up to +4 pts |
|
| Element Occurrence
(EO) Species Concentrations |
Surface values reclassified
to fit a range from 1 to 10 |
Highlights concentrations
of high-quality rare species occurrences. |
| Vegetation Community
EO Concentrations |
Surface values reclassified
to fit a range from 1 to 10 |
Highlights exemplary examples
of common vegetation communities and high-quality occurrences of rare vegetation
communities. |
