Development of LSRS has been finished and results are available. It is suggested that land use managers, assessors and others concerned with land capability familiarize themselves with the Alberta LSRS ratings and how they relate to the old CLI ratings.

LSRS - Alberta (ALSRS)

The LSRS program has been used to produce ratings for Alberta (referred to here as ALSRS) which utilize standard and recognized inputs with clear providence and which are geared to Alberta and the land use planning needs within the province. The above image is a visualization of the ratings for Alberta for the agricultural areas of the province.

These ratings were determined using:

• Models and reporting based on information in the publication at:

  http://sis2.agr.gc.ca/cansis/publications/manuals/1995-6/intro.html

  and

  as implemented and refined for use with Agrasid data and distributed with the LSRS program, version 2.2.

• AGRASID – the official soil database for Alberta. This was used "as-is" without modification of the data.

  Agrasid is available at:

  http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/sag3252?opendocument

• Climate Data (Climate AB version 3.1):

  Open, standardized, climate data:

  "… is based on the Alberta Climate Model (ACM): Alberta Environment. 2005. Alberta Climate Model (ACM)"

  software utilized can "provide climate estimates (1961- 1990) for any location in Alberta from its geographic coordinates. Publ. No. T/749. Alberta Environment. 35 pp. (available on-line)"

  "… 1961- 1990 baseline climate model for Alberta was developed by Dr. Gerald E. Rehfeldt according to methodology described in this paper: (Rehfeldt 2006 USDA Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-165)"

  More detailed information on the climate data used may be found at:

  http://www.ales.ualberta.ca/rr/Research/ClimateChange/ClimateDataforAlbe...

  Gratitude is expressed to Dr. Andreas Hamann (University of Alberta) for facilitating the use of this rigorous and standardized climate data for Alberta.

Ratings are attached to the Alberta soil polygons using field "POLYNUMB". Ratings can be downloaded here.