The new process allows you to access information as soon as you need it, and provides the necessary information required for most purposes including Environmental Field Reports.

If you require the PDF report, please:

• Use the "Search Map" and confirm that there are occurrences in your area of interest
• Submit a data request form, and provide the rationale for your request

ACIMS will evaluate and respond to your request within 10 to 15 business days, or will advise of an approximate timeline.  Such requests will be addressed in a priority fashion, based on demonstrated need. 

ACIMS defines an element as: a unit of natural biological and physical diversity. Biological elements represent species (or infraspecific taxa), natural communities, or other non-taxonomic biological entities (e.g. migratory species aggregation areas). In addition ACIMS has developed a list of landform elements as units of natural physical diversity.

An EO is an area of land and/or water in which a species or natural community is, or was, present. An EO should have practical conservation value for the Element as evidenced by potential continued (or historical) presence and/or regular recurrence at a given location. 

Consistency in EOs throughout the range of an element is achieved through the application of standard minimum data criteria and rules of separation specific to that element or group of similar elements.  Documentation on NatureServe's EO methodology standards is available at www.natureserve.org

"Non-sensitive element occurrences" are locations (i.e. occurrences) of species or communities that are rare (or of conservation concern for some other reason) and for which there are no restrictions regarding public access to location data (beyond the existing External Data Use Guidelines all users must agree to before downloading GIS files from our on-line system).

"Sensitive element occurrences" are also locations of species that are rare (or of conservation concern) but in these instances the precise location details cannot be distributed without due cause. In most cases these locations are not freely available because the species are legally listed under the Alberta Wildlife Act, or under the federal Species at Risk Act, or are of particular concern to Alberta Fish & Wildlife.

It is important to recognize that the term "sensitive" applies only to the spatial data. It is not to be confused with the Alberta General Status Rank designation of Sensitive (assigned by Fish & Wildlife) or with a specific ACIMS/NatureServe status rank (Srank) that is applied to a species or community. The term "sensitive" does not imply any assessment of viability of the occurrence in question, and is not an evaluation of how susceptible the occurrence may be to disturbance.

Tracked elements are species or ecological communities that ACIMS is actively collecting information on and processing element occurrences (EOs) for because they are elements that current information suggests are rare or of conservation concern due to threats to populations or habitats or documented declines.

For example, whitebark pine is found throughout the Rocky Mountains of Alberta but monitoring of populations has shown a considerable decline due primarily to white pine blister rust (a non-native species). So in 2006 this species was ranked as S2 and added to the vascular plant tracking list. For details on ranking methodology, go to www.natureserve.org.

Partially tracked elements are those elements for which only EOs that meet specific criteria are tracked. Potential reasons for partial tracking include

1. Tracking EOs that have a specific EO rank
2. Tracking disjunct EOs
3. Tracking EOs only in selected geographic areas (e.g. watersheds, ecoregions, etc.)
4. Tracking EOs only on selected sites determined by present or prospective conservation status
5. Tracking EOs for species which are actually tracked to the subspecies level but where information only to the genus level is available (e.g. Pellaea glabella ssp simplex and Pellaea glabella ssp. occidentalis are tracked (T) and Pellaea glabella is partially tracked (P).

Watched elements are those elements that are currently not considered as high conservation concern but there is some information to suggest that they may become rare should there be significant alterations to the element's habitats or population. Data are collected and entered into the database for retrieval as necessary but not processed as element occurrences.

Here are explanations for the projection of the element occurrence spatial files available for download, and information about the coordinate location within data request responses and shapefiles. Please note these shapefiles and coordinate information should be used by those experienced with spatial information knowledge and any questions to ACIMS will be referred back to this FAQ.

Projection Information for Element Occurrence Shapefiles:

Spatial Coordinate Information:

Coordinate points: The coordinates refer to the 'centroid' of the element occurrence - if it's a circular polygon, this is the logical centre. If its an irregular shape (like a crescent moon, or multiple polygons) the 'centroid' may not be the most visually logical, or actually sit outside the polygon - it is correct however based on the mathematic calculations used to define a 'centroid' of an object. The coordinates provided are for general reference only and should be used with caution.

EAST_10TM: The 10 TM (10 degree Transverse Mercator) Easting coordinate of the centre of the element occurrence.

NORTH_10TM: The 10 TM (10 degree Transverse Mercator) Northing coordinate of the centre of the element occurrence.

LAT: The measure of 'Latitude' of the centre of the element occurrence, in Degrees, Minutes, Seconds.

LONG: The measure of 'Longitude' of the centre of the element occurrence, in Degrees, Minutes, Seconds.

UTM_ZONE: The Universal Transverse Mercator Zone in which the majority of the element occurrence falls within. Alberta is covered by Zone 11 (114 - 120 degrees longitude) and Zone 12 (110-114 degrees longitude).

EAST_UTM: The Universal Transverse Mercator Easting coordinate of the centre of the element occurrence.

NORTH_UTM: The Universal Transverse Mercator Northing coordinate of the centre of the element occurrence.

Each polygon is an occurrence for a specific element at a specific location (although there may be several overlapping polygons in one spot). The size and shape of the polygon is determined by the data that were used to define and map the occurrence. Newer data for EOs are usually more specific and based on GPS-recorded locations. But many of the older occurrences were mapped using generalized information, such as a legal description to the section level. The more specific the information received, the more precise an occurrence can be mapped.

A 'crown reservation/notation' is the term Parks uses for lands that Parks has a registered interest in, but that are not designated under any 'Protected Area' legislation.  For further information about these terms, please contact us

There are only a few software packages that can read shapefiles properly, and they are usually somewhat costly and technical. Examples are Arcview 3.2, ArcMap 9.3, MapInfo 8.0, etc.

If you do not have software that can read shapefiles or have trouble using it, use the ACIMS Data Search Map  option.

ACIMS added the ability to search and see Alberta Township System 'Sections' in September 2011. Click on the "Search Map" link; accept the disclaimer; select a "Requestor" and a "Reason for Request" category (for our statistics on ACIMS use).  You can then select your location of interest, down to the section level.  A table of results will then be displayed, just below the map.  The table shows:

• Any sensitive eos within the full township of interest (regardless of section searched)
• Any non-sensitive occurrences that are all or partly within the search location
• Any Protected Area or its 100 m buffer that are all or partly within the search location

• The process is described in the document ACIMS Data Requests Process

No Element Occurrences:

If no element occurrences (sensitive or non-sensitive) and/or no Provincial Protected Areas were found in your area, no further request is needed.  Please note that the lack of records in your request area does not necessarily indicate that there are no rare elements in the area - it could just mean that very few inventories/surveys have been done in that part of the province.
Record search as follows, in case proof of search is needed at some future point:

• Print the 'Search ACIMS Map', by pressing the 'Print Page' button, printing the web page as a pdf, or taking a screen capture  (it may be 'Prt Scn' or something similar)
• Save/archive the file (or paste the image into a raster/bitmap software (i.e Microsoft Paint, or Apple Paintbrush) if taking screen capture)
• Be sure 'today's date', 'date file was updated' and 'legal land location' are clearly visible in the image file.
• Save file, and retain records as needed.

Non-Sensitive Element Occurrences are found:

If Non-Sensitive Element Occurrences are found, document the results as below (no need to contact ACIMS).

• Print the 'Search ACIMS Map', by pressing the 'Print Page' button, printing the web page as a pdf, or taking a screen capture  (it may be 'Prt Scn' or something similar)
• Save/archive the file (or paste the image into a raster/bitmap software (i.e Microsoft Paint, or Apple Paintbrush) if taking screen capture)
• Be sure 'today's date', 'date file was updated' and 'legal land location' are clearly visible in the image file.
• Save file, and retain records as needed.

Sensitive Element Occurrences:

The locations for Sensitive Element Occurrences have been generalized to a township.  If Sensitive Element Occurrences are found, a full township will be covered and the rare element will be somewhere within that township.  Document the results as described for non-sensitive elements, above.

Detailed locations for sensitive occurrences are only provided based on a demonstrated need.  A request must be submitted to ACIMS (acims.data@gov.ab.ca) with rationale indicating why location data are required.

If, after using the ACIMS Search map, a location falls within or adjacent to a provincial protected area and/or a crown reservation/notation and/or a 100 m buffer, the next steps depend on each unique situation.  The following provides general guidelines only; if unsure please contact us.

• If commercial and/or industrial activity IS proposed within the provincial protected area and/or crown reservation/notation, found, please check Parks Disposition Process
• If research activity IS proposed within the provincial protected area and/or crown reservation/notation, please consult Parks On-line Permitting and Clearance system
• If activity IS NOT proposed in the provincial protected area and/or crown reservation/notation, but element occurrences (sensitive and/or non-sensitive) are found in the same location, then see instructions under "Non-sensitive Element Occurrences" FAQ.

There are several reasons why.

• FWMIS focuses mainly on observation information relating to vertebrates (e.g., birds, fish)
• ACIMS processes selected observations into occurrences.  The data available online are for invertebrates (e.g., insects), plants and ecological communities.
• The two databases have different methodologies because they each have a different purpose.  Each of the data management systems supplies important and complimentary information
  • FWMIS is the primary location for vertebrate species observation data in Alberta.  FWMIS houses data for common and rare species and habitat information.
  • ACIMS stores data on elements of biodiversity for conservation planning purposes.  ACIMS includes information on vertebrates, invertebrates, plants (vascular and non-vascular), lichens, fungi, landforms and ecological communities.   

Check the shapefiles, ACIMS Data Search Map and/or downloadable files

If red, orange or green shapes are displayed, check the shapefile and/or table of results for names of element occurrences and/or protected areas found.  Check the FAQ's for next steps. 

If you require different information than that available in the shapefiles, table of results and/or downloadable files, send a data request detailing required information using the web form.

Here's the wording to use when referencing ACIMS data used in figures, reports, etc.

Alberta Conservation Information Management System. Online data accessed (add date data accessed) . Alberta Environment & Parks, Edmonton, Alberta.