CCISS Environmental Suitability Ratings

This dataset contains the environmental suitability ratings of tree species for British Columbia and adjacent jurisdictions (Northwestern United States and Alberta) at a site series level. These ordinal ratings (E1-5) reflect the probability for successful establishment and growth of a species across the entire environmental space of a site series in the baseline (pre-climate change) climate normal period of 1961-90. The environmental suitability ratings focus on how well the species is suited to the climatic and site (i.e. edaphic) conditions of a site series regardless of management objective. Tree species environmental suitability ratings refer to the degree to which a tree species can be successfully established and maintained to maturity under specific climatic & edaphic conditions in the absence of independent limiting factors such as biotic (e.g. forest health) or abiotic (e.g. fire) disturbances. The baseline environmental suitability does not include regions where a species is absent in natural stands due to non-climatic or site level factors such as unfavourable disturbance regimes or migration lags. Please see Data Dictionary for important information on data use.

Publisher

Government of British Columbia

Resources

6

Catalogue metadata updated

2026-05-06