Broad Ecosystem Inventory Wildlife Habitat Ratings Interpretations for Mammals

The Broad Ecosystem Inventory (BEI) Classification provides broad regional information about the distribution of ecosystems throughout the province and the value of these ecosystems to wildlife. This work is done in order to facilitate the use of wildlife information in broad provincial and regional land and resource planning initiatives. Broad Ecosystem Units are mapped based on imagery of the provincial land base generally captured at a scale of 1:250,000. BEI mapping represents forest conditions from approximately 1995 to 2000.

The BEI Classification was used to produce wildlife habitat capability and suitability mapping following Provincial Wildlife Habitat Ratings (WHR) Standards (Resource Inventory Committee 1999). Habitat classifications were based on BEI units. BEI units were evaluated and rated to determine the habitat potential (capability) and current habitat conditions (suitability) for selected wild ungulates and furbearers within each seral stage within each Broad Ecosystem Unit (and related site modifier variation) within the framework of Ecosections and Biogeoclimatic Sub-zone/Variants for their ability to supply the species’ necessary life requisites. Regional Wildlife and Habitat biologists, technicians, Forest Ecosystem Specialists, and consulting species experts provided species habitat ratings for each region of the province.

Wildlife habitat capability and suitability mapping was completed for the following wild ungulates and furbearers: Northwestern Moose, Alaskan Moose, Shiras' Moose, Bison, Rocky Mountain Elk, Roosevelt Elk, Columbian Black-tailed Deer, Rocky Mountain Mule Deer, Sitka Black-tailed Deer, White-tailed Deer, Dakota White-tailed Deer, Northwestern White-tailed Deer, Boreal Woodland Caribou, Mountain Woodland Caribou, Northern Woodland Caribou, Lynx, Bobcat, and American Badger. Habitat mapping followed Provincial Wildlife Habitat Ratings (WHR) Standards (Resource Inventory Committee 1999).

Datasets available for download

• BC Geographic Warehouse Custom Downloadoracle_sde
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• Report: British Columbia Wild Ungulates...PDF
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• Report: British Columbia Forest Carnivore...PDF
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• BEI
• Broad Ecosystem Inventory
• Ecosystem Classification
• Ecosystem Mapping
• WHR
• Wildlife Habitat Ratings
• badger
• bison
• bobcat
• caribou
• deer
• elk
• furbearer
• habitat capability
• habitat modelling
• habitat suitability
• lynx
• moose
• ungulates

Additional Info

• Maturity Level 1 (46%)
• Maturity Level 2 (38%)
• Maturity Level 3 (0%)
• Maturity Level 4 (10%)
• Maturity Level 5 (0%)
• Maturity Level 6 (0%)

Field	Value
Last Updated	October 19, 2025, 23:25 (UTC)
Created	October 19, 2025, 23:25 (UTC)
Domain / Topic Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Title Title for the Dataset.	Broad Ecosystem Inventory Wildlife Habitat Ratings Interpretations for Mammals
Description A description of the dataset.	The Broad Ecosystem Inventory (BEI) Classification provides broad regional information about the distribution of ecosystems throughout the province and the value of these ecosystems to wildlife. This work is done in order to facilitate the use of wildlife information in broad provincial and regional land and resource planning initiatives. Broad Ecosystem Units are mapped based on imagery of the provincial land base generally captured at a scale of 1:250,000. BEI mapping represents forest conditions from approximately 1995 to 2000. The BEI Classification was used to produce wildlife habitat capability and suitability mapping following Provincial Wildlife Habitat Ratings (WHR) Standards (Resource Inventory Committee 1999). Habitat classifications were based on BEI units. BEI units were evaluated and rated to determine the habitat potential (capability) and current habitat conditions (suitability) for selected wild ungulates and furbearers within each seral stage within each Broad Ecosystem Unit (and related site modifier variation) within the framework of Ecosections and Biogeoclimatic Sub-zone/Variants for their ability to supply the species’ necessary life requisites. Regional Wildlife and Habitat biologists, technicians, Forest Ecosystem Specialists, and consulting species experts provided species habitat ratings for each region of the province. Wildlife habitat capability and suitability mapping was completed for the following wild ungulates and furbearers: Northwestern Moose, Alaskan Moose, Shiras' Moose, Bison, Rocky Mountain Elk, Roosevelt Elk, Columbian Black-tailed Deer, Rocky Mountain Mule Deer, Sitka Black-tailed Deer, White-tailed Deer, Dakota White-tailed Deer, Northwestern White-tailed Deer, Boreal Woodland Caribou, Mountain Woodland Caribou, Northern Woodland Caribou, Lynx, Bobcat, and American Badger. Habitat mapping followed Provincial Wildlife Habitat Ratings (WHR) Standards (Resource Inventory Committee 1999).
Tags / Keywords Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.	BEI Broad Ecosystem Inventory Ecosystem Classification Ecosystem Mapping WHR Wildlife Habitat Ratings badger bison bobcat caribou deer elk furbearer habitat capability habitat modelling habitat suitability lynx moose ungulates
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc) File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size Dataset size in megabytes.
Metadata Identifier Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
Published Date Published date of the dataset.	2022-01-19
Time Period Data Span (start date) Start date of the data in the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (end date) End date of time data in the dataset.
GeoSpatial Area Data Span A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.

Field	Value
Access category Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
License License used to access the dataset.	Open Government Licence - British Columbia
Limits on use Limits on use of data.
Location Location of the dataset.	https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/broad-ecosystem-inventory-wildlife-habitat-ratings-interpretations-for-mammals
Data Service Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner Owner of the dataset.	Ecosystems
Contact Point Who to contact regarding access?	Tony Button
Contact Point Email The email to contact regarding access?	[email protected]
Publisher Publisher of the dataset.
Publisher Email Email of the publisher.
Author Author of the dataset.
Author Email Email of the author.
Accessed At Date the data and metadata was accessed.

Field	Value
Identifier Unique identifier for the dataset.
Language Language(s) of the dataset
Link to dataset description A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
Persistent Identifier Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
Globally Unique Identifier Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
Contains data about individuals Does the data hold data about individuals?
Contains data about identifiable individuals Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
Contains Indigenous Data Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type Platform type of the source portal.

Field	Value
Version Version of the datatset	None
Source Source of the dataset.	None
Version notes Version notes about the dataset.
Is version of another dataset Link to dataset that it is a version of.
Other versions Link to datasets that are versions of it.
Provenance Text Provenance Text of the data.	BEI originated in 1985 as Preliminary Biophysical Mapping produced to meet strategic level planning and wildlife conservation needs. In the early 1990’s this mapping was renamed Broad Ecosystem Inventory. During the 1990s BEI was mapped a number of times due to improved imagery, changes in ecological classifications, and faulty data produced by various mapping contractors. BEI reflects forest seral stages as was present from 1995 to 2000. BEI incorporated versions of two other provincial ecosystem classifications – Ecoregion Classification and Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification - that were current during the 1995-2000 period. BEI also used Ministry of Forest’s MapGen Forest Cover (generalised forest cover) product to inform BEI mapping. MapGen’s Growth Type Group was used to provide information on the primary and secondary tree species characterizing forest cover polygons, as well as the extent of those species combinations. MapGen Forest Cover’s Projected Age Class was also used to provide forest age class data useful in helping to determine the seral stages described in BEI polygons. Contours from NTS 1:250,000 topographic maps provided a good representation of slope steepness and aspect in complex areas with high relief, for the mapping of slope/aspect class polygons for BEI unit modifiers. Contour patterns also indicated landforms, which helped to delineate landform-based BEI unit polygons. Soil maps were used to provide information on soil texture, soil moisture, and because they are usually on a topographic base, they also provided information related to topography and landform. Terrain maps were used and proved to be especially helpful in the mapping of landform-based BEI habitat polygons. Terrain maps also depicted texture, and slope, permitting mapping of texture and slope-based BEI polygons as defined for BEI unit modifiers. BEI wild ungulate habitat mapping was based on data obtained from a team consisting of regional ungulate species experts, regional habitat experts, the provincial habitat correlator, and data management specialists. A series of regional wildlife habitat ratings knowledge transfer sessions were held in regions from 1996-2002 with both regional and provincial species and habitat specialists as well with private wildlife specialists and retired government biologists. Data gathered during these sessions were inputted into MS Excel spreadsheets, then reviewed by the provincial habitat correlator to adjust for units shared across regional boundaries, and finally inputted into the BEI Oracle based system which calculated capability-suitability values and applied these values to the BEI mapping for a spatial product. Draft products were reviewed by regional species and habitat experts and habitat ratings were adjusted based on this regional review and validation process. The revised ratings were again loaded to the BEI system and new habitat mapping was generated. This second iteration of habitat maps were not reviewed again by regional staff due to changes in work priorities. The wild ungulate habitat mapping has not been revised since approximately 2002 so this mapping reflects regional knowledge of ungulate habitat relationships as of 1995-2002. BEI furbearer habitat mapping was based on data obtained from a team of provincial and consulting species experts. A workshop was held in 2002 with provincial species experts and consulting species experts where wildlife ratings were developed. Data gathered during this session were inputted into MS Excel spreadsheets, then reviewed by the consulting species experts and adjusted using furbearer survey and harvest data, and finally inputted into the BEI Oracle based system which calculated capability-suitability values and applied these values to the BEI mapping for a spatial product. The furbearer habitat mapping has not been revised since 2002 so this mapping reflects knowledge of furbearer habitat relationships as of 2002.
Provenance URL Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions) Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.

Field	Value
Indigenous Community Permission Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about Indigenous communities from which data is derived.

Field	Value
Number of data rows If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
Number of data columns If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
Number of data cells If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
Number of data relations If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
Metric for data quality A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.

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