Canadian Wetland Inventory

Unlike most developed nations, Canada does not have a comprehensive wetland inventory for the entire country. Since 1979, DUC has helped fill this information gap by using aerial photography and satellite imagery to inventory millions of acres of wetlands across Canada.

The Canadian Wetland Inventory (CWI) was established in 2002 by DUC, Environment Canada, the Canadian Space Agency and the North American Wetlands Conservation Council. As a resource, the CWI is valuable for a number of other purposes. It helps to:

• Focus conservation, restoration and wetland monitoring programs
• Assess changes in wetland abundance and classification in relation to climate change concerns
• Assist industry, governments and conservation groups to develop land-use policies and protocols
• Measure performance of those policies and protocols towards landscape sustainability objectives

Since the inception of the Canadian Wetland Inventory, wetland mapping methodologies have continued to be tested and refined, leveraging advancements in machine learning and increased availability of high-resolution satellite imagery and LiDAR data. DUC has completed wetland inventories in the Boreal and Prairie ecozones, as well as the St. Lawrence Lowlands in Quebec. DUC has also contributed to each of the maps completed in the remainder of Canada. Together with our conservation partners, we are working to secure funding to complete the inventory.

CWI Data Model

The CWI is a national approach to establish a consistent framework to map wetlands, in order to build Canada’s capacity to respond to local, regional, national and international drivers. The CWI encourages consistent interpretations by communities of interest through a common data structure and classification system. Based on The Canadian Wetland Classification System, the Canadian Wetland Inventory data model divides wetlands into shallow water, marsh, swamp, fen, and bogs.