The Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD), in partnership with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (F&OC), has created a Habitat Atlas for the Sunshine Coast. The Habitat Atlas is a series of maps, covering the extent of the SCRD; from Langdale to Egmont and north past the top of Jervis Inlet. Each page of the Atlas contains a map illustrating a number of features, including: streams, roads, trails, land parcels, fish and wildlife habitat, parks and protected areas, watershed boundaries, and aerial photographs. Over 40 different categories, or “layers” of information have been collected. Each layer is stored on computer in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database at the SCRD office in Sechelt.

The database provides up-to-date information to planners, developers, government organizations, municipalities, First Nations, community organizations and local businesses, enabling them to make informed land use and stewardship decisions in support of the protection, enhancement, and restoration of fish habitat and sensitive ecosystems. This is an important initiative since fisheries are a significant economic and environmental resource for our community.

The Habitat Atlas is composed of a compilation of existing data and the collection of new data where gaps in information existed. These themes serve to identify the location of important habitat and it’s relation to other features.

http://habitat.scrd.bc.ca/

See also the WebMap at http://habitat.scrd.bc.ca/New-Web-Map.htm