Land-use Planning Regions:
TOTAL AREA:
83,774 km2
TOTAL Human Footprint:
43,797 km2
Region Overview
The South Saskatchewan Region encompasses nearly 84,000 km2 (13% of the province) in southern Alberta. The Grassland Natural Region is the largest ecosystem, representing 78% of the landbase; the Rocky Mountain (15%), Foothills (2%), and Parkland (5%) Natural Regions all cover much smaller areas. The South Saskatchewan Region has been transformed over the past century because of agricultural production and human settlement. Despite this conversion, large areas of native grassland still remain. Other important industries in the region include energy development, forestry, and tourism and recreation. Human footprint status and trends are summarized for the South Saskatchewan Region.
Status
As of 2021, human footprint occupied 52.6% of the South Saskatchewan Region. Covering 43.5% of the region, agriculture was the dominant human footprint. The remaining human footprint types, in decreasing order of area, were transportation (2.8%), urban/industrial (2.4%), energy (1.7%), forestry (1.2%), and human-created water bodies (1.1%).
| Human Footprint Type | Area (km2) | Area (%) |
|---|
Figure: Status of Human Footprint. Summary of percentage cover of total human footprint broken down by human footprint category in the South Saskatchewan Region, circa 2021.
Trend
- Between 2000 and 2021, the total area of human footprint in the South Saskatchewan Region increased by 1.9 percentage points, from 50.7% to 52.6%.
- Most footprint types showed small increases in percent area of the South Saskatchewan Region: energy (+0.6%), forestry (+0.5%), urban/industrial (+0.6%), transportation (+0.3%), and human-created water bodies (+0.1%).
| Human Footprint Type | 2000 (km2) | 2021 (km2) | Change (km2) |
|---|
| Human Footprint Type | 2000 (%) | 2021 (%) | Change (%) |
|---|
Figure: Trend in Human Footprint. Trend in the percentage area of total human footprint, and by human footprint category in the South Saskatchewan Region between 2000 and 2021. Click on the entries in the legend to turn human footprint categories on and off.
Status of Linear Human Footprint
- Density of linear features was 2.5 km/km2 in the South Saskatchewan Region.
- Roads, with a density of 1.2 km/km2, were the most common linear feature, followed by pipelines (0.8 km/km2) and conventional seismic lines (0.5 km/km2).
- Transmission lines and railways had very low densities in the region.
| Type | Density (km/km2) |
|---|
Figure: Status of Linear Human Footprint. Density (km/km2) of linear features in the South Saskatchewan Region, circa 2021, overall and broken down by linear feature type. Hover over bar or legend to view density of specific linear feature type. Please note low impact seismic lines are not included in the summary of linear footprint density.