Habitat and Biodiversity Assessment
Safe and healthy habitat is the key to sustaining biodiversity, and biodiversity is key to a resilient landscape. The Habitat and Biodiversity Assessment Tool (HBAT) focuses on stewardship opportunities to foster this resilience, which benefits not only wildlife and plants but current and future landowners. The stewardship opportunities that are presented for your land are based on your geographic location and the existing habitat features that you supply during the on-line assessment process. The results include recommendations that are suitable for habitats found on your land, and can benefit the plant, pollinator, and any wildlife species that may occur.
Acknowledgements
A committee of dedicated professionals contributed to the various developmental stages of the Ontario HBAT through discussion and review. Many thanks to the Natural Heritage Information Centre, Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association, Forests Ontario, Grasslands Ontario, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs – Government of Ontario, Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks – Government of Ontario, and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). The development of the Ontario HBAT has benefited greatly from the content and functionality of the precursive Alberta HBAT, which was used as a foundational resource. Jeff Harder (ECCC) provided database management and range maps acquisition. The Canadian Forage and Grassland Association provided national technical expertise and fostered collegial collaboration among provinces during the tool’s development process across Canada. This project has been funded by the Canada Nature Fund through Environment and Climate Change Canada.
With much appreciation, we acknowledge that the biodiversity data that underpins the habitat and biodiversity assessment tool have been generously provided in the spirit of conservation and collaboration. We further gratefully acknowledge all volunteer participants who gathered observations and data for citizen science databases.
- Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC)
- Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility. 2022. GBIF Occurrence Download (amphibians, birds, insects, mammals, mussels, reptiles, plants) Available: https://www.gbif.org/. (Accessed: October 2022 – December 2022).
- Natural Heritage Information Centre (NHIC)
- NatureServe. 2022. Butterfly Watch records for Ontario. Data accessed from NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data. Available: https://explorer.natureserve.org/. (Accessed: December 20, 2022).
- NatureServe. 2022. Nightjar survey records for Ontario. Data accessed from NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data. Available: https://explorer.natureserve.org/. (Accessed: December 12, 2022).
- NatureServe. 2022. Swift Watch records for Ontario. Data accessed from NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data. Available: https://explorer.natureserve.org/. (Accessed: December 12, 2022).
Safe and healthy habitat is the key to sustaining biodiversity, and biodiversity is key to a resilient landscape. The Habitat and Biodiversity Assessment Tool (HBAT) focuses on stewardship opportunities to foster this resilience, which benefits not only wildlife and plants but current and future landowners. The stewardship opportunities that are presented for your land are based on your geographic location and the existing habitat features that you supply during the on-line assessment process. The results include recommendations that are suitable for habitats found on your land, and can benefit the plant, pollinator, and any wildlife species that may occur.