Protected Areas of Canada

Global Forest Watch Canada (GFWC) has created two national protected areas datasets – one of permanent protected lands (available in Data Basin by province or territory) and one of lands with interim protections.  Permanent protected lands are largely those areas legally designated by government authority and the designations are considered permanent; for example, National Parks, Provincial Parks, and National Wildlife Areas.  Private protected lands are also included although they account for a small percentage of land area compared to government.  

The interim file contains those areas that are legally protected, but only for a limited time period – usually until land use planning issues, especially with Canada's Aboriginal peoples, are finalized.  This is the first Canada-wide, up-to-date protected areas geospatial dataset that is publically available containing interim protected areas.

 Both files are currently in draft form and under review until June 30, 2010.  If you have constructive comments to offer after reviewing the datasets, please go directly to (GFWC -- infor@globalforestwatch.ca) where they will welcome your review comments.

The finalized dataset will be available in Data Basin.