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The Species at Risk (SAR) Program is responsible for carrying out DFO’s mandate under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) to protect, recover and conserve all listed aquatic SAR in Canada. As part of this mandate, this spatial database has been developed to identify areas in which aquatic species listed under SARA may be found. Distribution and range information are identified for species listed as Endangered, Threatened or Special Concern under SARA. Distribution (range) polygons and lines were assembled by regional SARA biologists using the best available information, including COSEWIC status reports, recovery potential assessments, academic literature, and expert opinion.

The Species at Risk (SAR) Program is responsible for carrying out DFO’s mandate under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) to protect, recover and conserve all listed aquatic SAR in Canada. Critical habitat is identified for species listed as Endangered or Threatened under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). Critical habitat is defined under section 2 of SARA as: "the habitat that is necessary for the survival or recovery of a listed wildlife species and that is identified as the species' critical habitat in the recovery strategy or in an action plan for the species". Section 49(1)(a) of SARA requires that a species' Recovery Strategy/Action Plan include an identification of the species' critical habitat to the extent possible, based on the best available information, including information provided by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).

Critical habitat is identified for species listed as Endangered or Threatened under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA)and where federal critical habitat protection orders are in effect. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is the responsible authority for the protection, recovery and conservation of all listed aquatic species at risk in Canada. Critical habitat is defined as the habitat that is necessary for the survival or recovery of a listed wildlife species and that is identified as such in the recovery strategy or action plan for the species (www.registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca). SARA makes it illegal to destroy any part of the critical habitat of a listed species and may impose restrictions on development and construction.

This dataset displays the geographic areas within which critical habitat for terrestrial species at risk listed on Schedule 1 of the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) occurs in Ontario. Under SARA, is “the habitat that is necessary for the survival or recovery of a listed wildlife species and that is identified as the species’ critical habitat in the recovery strategy or action plan for the species.”

The geographic area within which critical habitat may occur is represented as “grid squares”. These are coarse (1, 10, 50 or 100 km2) squares based on a standardized UTM grid or coarse National Topographic System (NTS) scales (1:50, 1:250) that serve as a flag to review the associated species’ recovery document. However, not all of the area within these grid squares is critical habitat.

This national dataset contains geographic range data for 488 Species at risk based on NatureServe data, SAR recovery strategies, Environment Canada resources and COSEWIC status reports.

Species At Risk Act (SARA) describes Critical Habitat (CH) as the habitat that is necessary for the survival or recovery of a listed wildlife species (schedule 1), and that is identified as the species’ critical habitat in a recovery strategy or in an action plan for the species. CH spatial data exists for 116 of the 469 Environment Canada – Species At Risk (EC SAR) of interest, which includes draft, candidate, proposed and final CH spatial data that were provided by CWS regional offices. In order to protect sensitive CH information, or for some sharing data issues, CH sites were generalized using a 10km x 10km national grid. As mentioned before, each region provides NCR-CWS with their CH spatial data.

This feature dataset focuses on a terrestrial species at risk, the Least Bittern (Ixobrychus exilis), under the responsibility of Environment and Climate Change Canada.It displays the geographic areas in Quebec where critical habitat has been designated under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). However, not all of the area within these boundaries is necessarily critical habitat. To precisely define what constitutes critical habitat for a particular species, it is essential that this geospatial information be considered in conjunction with complementary information provided in a species’ recovery document (recovery program or action plan). These documents can be downloaded from the Species at Risk Public Registry (http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca).

This feature dataset focuses on a terrestrial species at risk, the Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii), under the responsibility of Environment and Climate Change Canada.It displays the geographic areas in Quebec where critical habitat has been designated under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). However, not all of the area within these boundaries is necessarily critical habitat. To precisely define what constitutes critical habitat for a particular species, it is essential that this geospatial information be considered in conjunction with complementary information provided in a species’ recovery document (recovery program or action plan). These documents can be downloaded from the Species at Risk Public Registry (http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca).

This feature dataset focuses on a terrestrial species at risk, the Victorin's Gentian (Gentianopsis virgata ssp. victorinii), under the responsibility of Environment and Climate Change Canada.It displays the geographic areas in Quebec where critical habitat has been designated under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). However, not all of the area within these boundaries is necessarily critical habitat. To precisely define what constitutes critical habitat for a particular species, it is essential that this geospatial information be considered in conjunction with complementary information provided in a species’ recovery document (recovery program or action plan).

This feature dataset focuses on a terrestrial species at risk, the Purple Twayblade (Liparis liliifolia), under the responsibility of Environment and Climate Change Canada.It displays the geographic areas in Quebec where critical habitat has been designated under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). However, not all of the area within these boundaries is necessarily critical habitat. To precisely define what constitutes critical habitat for a particular species, it is essential that this geospatial information be considered in conjunction with complementary information provided in a species’ recovery document (recovery program or action plan). These documents can be downloaded from the Species at Risk Public Registry (http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca).