Wetlands - Broad Scale

ISO-19139 Metadata

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Metadata language: eng
Metadata character set: utf8
Last update: 2023-02-03
Metadata maintenance:
Update frequency: asNeeded
Metadata contact:
Role: pointOfContact
Individual's name: Geomatics Yukon
Organization's name: Government of Yukon
Scope of the data described by the metadata: dataset
Scope name: dataset
Name of the metadata standard used: ISO 19139 Geographic Information - Metadata - Implementation Specification
Version of the metadata standard: 2007
Metadata identifier: 1675454863780r828417522829471

Data Identification Information

Resource citation:
Title: Wetlands - Broad Scale
Date:
Presentation format: mapDigital
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Role: pointOfContact
Individual's name: Geomatics Yukon
Organization's name: Government of Yukon
Themes or categories of the resource: environment
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Keywords: Downloadable Data
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Citation reference: 723f6998-058e-11dc-8314-0800200c9a66
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Keywords: Wetland, Predictive Ecosystem Map, Beaver River, Beaver River Land Use Plan, Peel Watershed, Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan, Mayo Watershed, McQuesten Watershed, ELC, Ecological, Land Classification, Landscape Classification, Ecological and Landscape Classification, Vegetation, Ecosystem, Environment Yukon, Yukon Territory, Yukon, YT, Canada
Abstract: This dataset (WETLAND_BROAD_POLY) is a composite of several individual wetland mapping projects, collectively referred to as “Wetlands - Broad Scale". The methodology used, map accuracy, and credits vary by project; these project details are outlined in Table 5 (see below). The spatial extent of individual projects are delineated in a separate feature class entitled, "WETLAND_BROAD_EXTENTS_POLY". The "Project Name" attribute field, common to both feature classes, denotes the specific project each feature is associated with. This dataset is intended to be used as a broad scale planning and management tool to identify potential distribution and abundance of wetlands. Wetlands were mapped to wetland class (shallow water, marsh, swamp, fen, and bog), following the Canadian Wetland Classification System using a predictive model. This dataset is intended to support land management and regional land use planning processes. Local scale (10k) manual wetland mapping, and additional physical assessments (i.e. ground inspections) may be required to undertake habitat enhancement, environmental assessment, reclamation planning, or environmental mitigation over small to moderate areas.Map development:The "Wetlands - Broad Scale" dataset was developed using a random forest machine learning model to predict wetland classes. Various satellite imagery sources and landscape variables derived from a digital elevation model (DEM) were used as primary inputs to predict wetlands. The source dataset has a resolution of 10 x 10 m. Training and validation data are a mix of ground plots (site visit and ecosystem plots), aerial survey plots, and interpreted polygons. Each predictive wetland map within the composite has met the minimum criteria of a map accuracy greater than or equal to 70 % and a Kappa coefficient greater than 0.60. The map (or producer's) accuracy measures the percentage of wetland features that are correctly classified to one of the five wetland classes. The Kappa coefficient statistic is used to measure the extent to which the model has correctly predicted, given the set of validation data. A value of 0 indicates predicted values are entirely random. A value of 1 indicates a perfect model. As a general rule, Kappa coefficients less than 0.60 indicate a poorly performing model, values of 0.61 to 0.80 indicate substantial agreement between predicted and validation data, and values of 0.81 to 1.00 indicate almost perfect agreement.The size of the smallest wetland that can be reliably mapped, the Target Mapping Unit (TMU), was not established for this dataset at the time of publication. Wetland classes smaller than a TMU of 2.0 hectares in this dataset should be used with caution. Wetlands below the TMU have a higher potential to be associated with classification error. The reported map accuracy is adequate for the intended purpose, and assumes that training data has adequately captured variation in landscape and vegetation structure between and within wetland classes. Feature attributes:Each polygon feature is associated with a combination of feature attributes grouped by value number, as shown in Table 1: ecological realm, wetland group, and wetland class. Table 1. Feature attributes grouped by value numberValueEcological RealmWetland GroupWetland Class0Other1FreshwaterWater (non-wetland)2WetlandMineralShallow Water3WetlandMineralMarsh4WetlandMineralSwamp5WetlandPeatlandFen6WetlandPeatlandBogThe ecological realm is a broadly defined ecosystem with common water source and character, described in Table 2.Table 2. Ecological realm breakdown into broad ecosystem categoriesEcological RealmDescriptionFreshwaterInland aquatic ecosystemsWetlandEcosystems dominated by plants adapted to saturated soils and periodically or permanently anaerobic soil conditionsThe wetland group is defined by the accumulation (or lack) of organic matter or peat, as described in Table 3. Table 3. Wetland groupsWetland GroupDescriptionPeatlandOrganic wetland classes that have more than 40 cm of organic matter (peat) accumulation (Warner and Rubec 1997) on which Organic soils or Organic Cryosols develop. Organic wetlands are characterized by poorly to moderately decomposed peat, mostly comprised of peat mosses, brown mosses, and/or sedges, but can also include woody remains of shrubs, or other plants. Mapped fen and bog wetland classes may have as little as 30 cm of peat accumulation, in the Yukon Wetland Classification System to be recognized as a peatland.MineralMineral wetlands occur in areas where an excess of water collects on the surface or within the rooting zone of plants for a significant portion of the growing season and which, for geomorphic, hydrologic, biotic, edaphic (factors related to soil), or climatic reasons, accumulate little to no organic matter or peat (typically less than 40 cm). Gleysol or Gleysolic Cryosol soils, or peaty phases of these soils, are characteristic of these wetlands (Warner and Rubec 1997). Swamps may have more than 30 cm of peat accumulation; however mineral swamps and peatland swamps are not distinguished from each other at the group level in this map.Table 4 describes five wetland classes and one non-wetland class that apply to this dataset. The five wetland classes that are recognized based on broadly similar site conditions along dominant environmental gradients as reflected in physiognomy (the life form, structure, and stature of vegetation) and species with similar adaptations. Non-wetland water systems are also mapped at this level.Table 4. Wetland class breakdown.Wetland ClassDescriptionShallow WaterShallow water wetlands have standing or flowing water above the surface and less than 2 m deep in mid-summer. Vegetation is dominated by submerged or floating aquatic plants, algae, and aquatic mosses.MarshMarshes are mineral wetlands characterized by shallow surface water, which fluctuates dynamically daily, seasonally, or annually. The water table may be below, at, or above the ground surface at a given time. They are dominated by aquatic macrophytes largely rushes, reeds, grasses, sedges, and sometimes herbs.SwampA swamp is a treed or tall or medium shrub dominated wetland that is influenced by minerotrophic groundwater. A swamp occurs on either mineral or organic soils.FenFens are nutrient medium peatlands where minerotrophic groundwater is within the rooting zone. Stands can be treed, shrubby, or sedge dominated. Brown mosses usually dominate the moss layer. BogBogs are nutrient poor peatlands where the rooting zone occurs above the mineral-enriched groundwater. Stands can be treed, shrubby, or moss dominated, where the moss layer is comprised mostly of peat moss.Water (non-wetland)This is a land cover class in the freshwater realm. It represents lacustrine (lake) and riverine (moving water) systems that are not wetlands. Table 5: Unique project details for each mapping area within the "Wetlands - Broad Scale" dataset.Project NameInformationDescriptionBeaver RiverLast UpdateOctober 2019Project AreaThe Beaver River Watershed wetland map is located in east central Yukon and has a total area of 6,146 km2. The wetland map consists of the Beaver River watershed, including the Rackla and East Rackla rivers, and a portion of the Keno Ladue watershed.MethodsSentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and landscape variables derived from the ArcticDEM, version 3, were used as primary inputs to predict wetlands. Sentinel imagery was from 2018. Training and validation data was comprised of 250 ground plots (site visit and ecosystem plots), 264 aerial survey plots, and 1,621 interpreted polygons. Polygons were interpreted from a combination of SPOT-6, Pleiades-1, ESRI World Imagery, and Sentinel-2 imagery. Training polygons reflected the extent and variability of nine land cover classes within the planning area and are in proportion to the aerial extent of land cover class (including wetland classes). Interpreted polygons were used to train the model. The model was validated using point location of aerial field calls and ground plots. The ratio of training to validation data was 3:1. In this dataset, the smallest mapped wetland, or minimum mapping unit (MMU), is 2 pixels or 200 square metres. The pixel resolution of the wetland map is 10 m, however all single pixels were merged into to their neighbouring pixel value.AccuracyThe final classification map accuracy was 81 % with a Kappa of 0.77 across all wetland and land cover classes. Isolating specifically the wetland classes, the map accuracy was 78 % (Kappa 0.69). The resulting map accuracy meets the project goal of greater than 70 % accuracy for a predictive map produced at a survey level intensity 4 to 5 as per the ELC guidelines for mapping. CreditsPreliminary wetland classification and final predictive map was completed by the Ecosystem and Landscape Classification (ELC) Program, Fish and Wildlife (F&W) Branch, Department of Environment, Government of Yukon, the Government of Yukon with input from Palmer Environmental Consulting Group, Drosera Ecological Consulting, and CryoGeographic Consulting. Training and assessment data was collected by Drosera Ecological Consulting, Lori Schroeder Consulting, CryoGeographic Consulting, and F&W staff. Classification of wetlands was completed by CryoGeographic Consulting with input from Drosera Ecological Consulting and ELC program staff. PeelLast UpdateMarch 2022Project AreaThe Peel Watershed wetland map is located in northern Yukon and has a total area of 67,366 km2. The watershed is drained by six major tributaries—the Snake, Wind, Bonnet Plume, Hart, Ogilvie, and Blackstone. MethodsSentinel-1, Sentinel-2, ALOS PALSAR (HH and HV polarizations), and landscape variables derived from the ArcticDEM, version 3, were used as primary inputs to predict wetlands. Sentinel imagery was from 2018. Segmented objects were used to assign a wetland class* and can be considered the minimum map unit (MMU) (as opposed to a single pixel). Segments were created using eCognition software with Sentinel-2 bands (red, green, blue, NIR, and SWIR) at 10 m spatial resolution. Segmentation scale parameters were 175 and 100. Shape and compactness parameters were 0.1 and 0.9, respectively. Training and validation data was comprised of 1,122 interpreted polygons trained on 514 ground plots (site visit and ecosystem plots). Polygons were interpreted from a combination of SPOT-6 and ESRI World Imagery. Interpreted polygons were randomly assigned by class to training and validation datasets (748 and 374, respectively). The ratio of training to validation data was 3:1. AccuracyThe final classification map accuracy was 75 % with a Kappa of 0.70 across all wetland and land cover classes. Isolating specifically the wetland classes, the average map accuracy was 79 % with a Kappa of 0.69. Swamp and marsh had the lowest map accuracy with 70 % and 69 % respectively. The resulting map accuracy meets the project goal of greater than 70 % accuracy for a predictive map produced at a reconnaissance survey level as per the ELC guidelines for mapping.CreditsPreliminary wetland classification and final predictive map was completed by Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions under contract to Ecosystem and Landscape Classification (ELC) Program, Fish and Wildlife (F&W) Branch, Department of Environment, Government of Yukon. Ground plot data used for training and validation data was collected by various Government of Yukon staff and contractors between 1975 and 2020.Mayo McQuestenLast UpdateMarch 2022Project AreaThe Mayo and McQuesten Watersheds wetland map is located in central Yukon and has a total area of 7,514 km2. This project focused on enhancing map accuracy within the Mayo and McQuesten watershed’s 2,495 km2 sub-basins of Haggard Creek, Mayo Lake, Sprague Creek, and the Lower-South and Mid-South McQuesten (hereafter sub-basins). MethodsSeSentinel-1, Sentinel-2, ALOS PALSAR (HH and HV polarizations), and landscape variables derived from the ArcticDEM, version 3, were used as primary inputs to predict wetlands. Sentinel imagery was from 2018. Segmented objects were used to assign a wetland class* and can be considered the minimum map unit (MMU) (as opposed to a single pixel). Segments were created using eCognition software with Sentinel-2 bands (red, green, blue, NIR, and SWIR) at 10 m spatial resolution. Segmentation scale parameters were 200 and 50. Shape and compactness parameters were 0.1 and 0.9, respectively. Training and validation data were comprised of 482 interpreted polygons trained on 98 ground plots (site visit and ecosystem plots), and drone imagery. Polygons were interpreted from a combination of SPOT-6/7, ESRI World Imagery, Sentinel-2 imagery, and 2021 drone imagery taken over 5 different locations, totaling 9.3 km2. Interpreted polygons were randomly assigned by class to training and validation datasets (232 and 250, respectively). The ratio of training to validation data was approximately 1:1. AccuracyOver the entire study area, the final classification map accuracy was 97 % with a Kappa of 0.95 across all wetland and land cover classes. Isolating specifically the wetland classes within the study area, the average map accuracy was 89 %. Within the sub-basins, the final classification map accuracy was 97 % with a Kappa of 0.93 across all wetland and land cover classes. Isolating specifically the wetland classes within the sub-basins, the average map accuracy was 88 %. The resulting map accuracy meets the project goal of greater than 70 % accuracy for a predictive map produced at a level 4 to 5 survey level as per the ELC guidelines for mapping.CreditsPreliminary wetland classification and final predictive map was completed by Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions under contract to the Ecosystem and Landscape Classification (ELC) Program, Fish and Wildlife (F&W) Branch, Department of Environment, Government of Yukon. Ground plot data used for training and validation data was collected by F&W staff, CryoGeographic Consulting, and Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions in summer 2021.*Mahdavi, S., B. Salehi, M. Amani, J.E. Granger, B. Brisco, W. Huang, and A. Hanson. 2017. Object-based Classification of Wetlands in Newfoundland and Labrador using Multi-temporal PolSAR Data. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 43(5), 432-450.Distributed from GeoYukon by the Government of Yukon. Discover more digital map data and interactive maps from Yukon’s digital map data collection.For more information: geomatics.help@yukon.ca
Purpose: The purpose of this dataset is to provide a broad scale map of wetland abundance and distribution. Wetlands were mapped to wetland class (shallow water, marsh, swamp, fen, and bog), following the Canadian Wetland Classification System using a predictive model. This dataset is intended to support land management and regional land use planning processes. Local scale (10k) manual wetland mapping, and additional physical assessments (i.e. ground inspections) may be required to undertake habitat enhancement, environmental assessment, reclamation planning, or environmental mitigation over small to moderate areas.
Dataset language:eng
Dataset character set: utf8
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Limitations of use: Open Government Licence - Yukon (https://open.yukon.ca/data/open-government-licence-yukon)
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Spatial representation type: vector
Processing environment: Esri ArcGIS 12.9.4.32739
Resource extent:
Geographic element:
Bounding rectangle:
Extent contains the resource: true
West longitude: -140.583074
East longitude: -130.979961
North latitude: 67.041297
South latitude: 63.353801
Credits: Data model created by Fish and Wildlife (F&W) Branch, Department of Environment, Government of Yukon. Predictive wetland mapping completed by various contractors under contract to the Department of Environment, Government of Yukon (Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions, Palmer Environmental Consulting Group, Drosera Ecological Consulting, and CryoGeographic Consulting), and the Department of Environment, Government of Yukon. Training and assessment data was collected by various contractors under contract to the Department of Environment, Government of Yukon (Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions, Drosera Ecological Consulting, Lori Schroeder Consulting, and CryoGeographic Consulting) and F&W staff.

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Level of topology for this dataset: geometryOnly
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Object type: composite
Object count: 255327

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Reference system identifier:
Value: 3578
Code space: EPSG
Version: 6.13(9.3.0.0)

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Format name: Enterprise Geodatabase Feature Class
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Online location: https://yukon.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=79fd8fa10d8842de8670f89fded20bce
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Online location: https://map-data.service.yukon.ca/GeoYukon/Biophysical/Wetlands_Broad_Scale/