Appendix C. Classes for assessing site potential for representation.
| Classification type | Classes | Method | Data sources |
| Land cover | natural (forest, barrens, beaches) | GIS reclassified Forestry | Forestry GIS Database (NSDNR 1992 public communications) |
| semi-natural (clear cut, plantation) | GIS Database into land cover classes; areas of natural cover were selected out as priority areas | ||
| degraded (agriculture, landfill) | |||
| unnatural (built-up, urban) | |||
| water | |||
| unclassified | |||
| Area of contiguous natural cover | 0–200ha | GIS selected areas of natural cover that connect directly or by by-passing unnatural areas; selection ended when further connections could not be found; areas of natural cover greater than 10,000 ha were selected out as priority areas | Forestry GIS Database (NSDNR 1992 public communications) |
| 200–2000ha | |||
| 2000–10,000 ha | |||
| greater than 10,000 ha | |||
| Road density | 0 km/km2 | GIS calculated total length of road (major and secondary roads, trails, railways, cart tracks, and woods roads) in each 1-km square grid cell; areas of zero road density (no roads) were selected out as priority areas | Provincial aerial photographs taken between 1987 and 1997 and mapped at a scale of 1:10,000 by NS Geomatics Centre |
| 0.01–0.06 km/km2 | |||
| 0.06–0.60 km/km2 | |||
| 0.60–1.0 km/km2 | |||
| 1.0–3.0 km/km2 | |||
| greater than 3.0 km/km2 | |||
| Forest cover maturity | regeneration | GIS reclassified Forestry | Forestry GIS Database (NSDNR 1992 public communications) |
| young | GIS Database into maturity classes; uneven-aged stands were selected out as priority areas | ||
| immature | |||
| pole | |||
| mature | |||
| over mature | |||
| uneven aged | |||
Note: All classifications were processed as UTM NAD83 projections with ArcInfo 8.01.