Real report · Crown land · generated 2026-10-08
What a Free Alberta Land Report Actually Returns
This page is the unedited output of the Land Intelligence report pipeline for a 64 ha quarter of public land in the Cooking Lake–Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area, east of Edmonton (legal description SW 35-51-20-W4). We used Crown land so no private parcel is published. Your own report runs the same pipeline on the boundary you draw.
At a glance
Water and wells
The pipeline pulled 311 provincial well records within 5 km and estimated a completion depth of 38.9 m (confidence band 25.7–53.1 m) with a static water level near 11.5 m. The nearest watercourse is 325 m away. Ten of the nearest records:
| Distance (km) | Total depth (m) | Completion (m) | Static level (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.9 | 61 | 20.2 | 8.2 |
| 0.9 | 67.1 | 70.5 | 7.3 |
| 1.1 | 61 | 61 | – |
| 1.1 | 68.6 | 19.6 | 7.6 |
| 1.1 | 45.7 | 45.7 | – |
| 1.2 | 36.6 | 35.4 | 8.3 |
| 1.3 | 77.7 | 77.7 | – |
| 1.3 | 76.2 | 20.8 | 8.8 |
| 1.3 | 57 | 16 | 4 |
| 1.3 | 44.2 | 44.2 | – |
Source: Alberta Water Well Information Database via the report pipeline. The spread between records is the point: a county average would hide it.
Terrain
Elevation runs 734–762 m across the quarter with a mean slope of 3.8% (90th percentile 7.1%). The report flags a keypoint (present) and rates erosion risk low. Lighter cells are higher ground:
Source: NRCan HRDEM 1 m LiDAR digital terrain model where available, SRTM 30 m elsewhere.
Solar, month by month
Horizontal irradiance in kWh/m²/day. A fixed south array at latitude tilt averages 4.14 and a two-axis tracker 5.73; the report calls this resource "fair".
| Month | kWh/m²/day |
|---|---|
| Jan | 1.21 |
| Feb | 2.17 |
| Mar | 3.5 |
| Apr | 4.6 |
| May | 5.44 |
| Jun | 5.85 |
| Jul | 5.78 |
| Aug | 4.91 |
| Sep | 3.36 |
| Oct | 2.12 |
| Nov | 1.19 |
| Dec | 0.92 |
Pond siting
The lowest convergent cell in the quarter sits at 734 m with a catchment of about 19.6 ha (31% of the parcel). The report sizes small, medium and large pond tiers against monthly runoff, and reminds you that a Water Act approval may apply.
What the pipeline recommended, and why
Each design element fires only when a measured attribute meets its rule. The rule is shown so you can argue with it.
- Contour swale (zone 2, medium effort): Capture sheet flow on your 4.6% slope so moisture soaks in instead of running off. Fired because: slope_percent 4.6 in 2–15 AND drainage_class well
- Keyline cultivation (zone 3, medium effort): Spread water from the keypoint across the landscape so ridges stay productive longer. Fired because: keypoint_present = true
- Windbreak / shelterbelt (zone 2, medium effort): Multi-row prairie shelterbelt against NW winds using caragana, hybrid poplar, and spruce. Fired because: prevailing_wind_direction = NW
- Groundwater well (zone 5, high effort): Groundwater option indicated by nearby well records (local completion depths vary). Fired because: predicted_well_depth 38.9 m (hydrology) · nearest surface water 325 m
Flags
- Info: Pioneer / early-successional cover: defer food forest; run nitrogen-fixer and groundcover cover-crop phase first.
- Caution: Range/habitat for Danaus plexippus overlaps this parcel. Provincial/federal species-at-risk regulations may apply — recommend a habitat assessment before major ground disturbance. Locations are not pinpointed.
- Info: Deer/elk/moose expected or confirmed nearby — plan browse protection (fence or individual guards) for new plantings.
- Info: Cougar, bear, and/or coyote expected or confirmed nearby — livestock-guardian practice and wildlife-camera monitoring are recommended.
What this run did not get
Some layers time out on a busy day and the report says so instead of guessing: on this run the provincial flood-hazard query and the soil-polygon service aborted, so flood status reads "unknown" and the soil series comes from the Agricultural Land Resource Atlas only. Re-running usually fills them. That honesty is deliberate; a report that invents a flood status is worse than one that says it could not check.
Data sources used in this report
- terrain, location.elevation_m, topology: OpenTopoData SRTM 30m (source)
- terrain (HRDEM coverage flag): NRCan HRDEM STAC (hrdem-lidar) (source)
- canopy (tree instances, canopy height): NRCan HRDEM Canopy Height Model (DSM − DTM)
- hydrology.watershed: Watersheds of Alberta (Major River Basins) (source)
- hydrology (predicted streams): Wet Areas Mapping — Predicted Streams (source)
- soil: Agricultural Land Resource Atlas of Alberta (source)
- climate, hydrology.annual_precipitation_mm: Open-Meteo 30-year normals + Land Intelligence Alberta climate presets (source)
- proximity_context.nearest_water_source: Alberta Base Water Feature (ArcGIS REST) (source)
- proximity_context.nearest_city, nearest_settlement: Alberta population-centre lookup (centroid haversine) (source)
- proximity_context.crime_risk: Statistics Canada Crime Severity Index by police service (jurisdiction proxy — not parcel-level) (source)
- predicted_well_depth: Well depth IDW (alberta-wells.json) · AGS Map 610 bedrock proxy (source)
- solar: NRCan Photovoltaic Potential & Solar Resource Maps of Canada (municip_kWh) (source)
- land_value: Average Alberta Agricultural Land Values by C.L.I. and Municipality, 2015 (Alberta Agriculture) (source)
- climate.plant_hardiness_zone: NRCan Plant Hardiness Zones of Canada (4th edition, 1991–2020) (source)
- zoning: Municipal zoning portal lookup (Edmonton) (source)
- climate.temperature_profile: Open-Meteo daily archive (ERA5 reanalysis) (source)
- wildlife: Alberta expected-range catalog (FWMIS/COSEWIC) + GBIF + iNaturalist research-grade (source)
- planting_plan: EcoCrop-style suitability · OpenSourceMed Growing Guide / farmfit catalog approach (source)
- design_elements: EE if→then placement ruleset (Alberta-first) (source)
- service_quote: Land Intelligence rate engine (2024 rate sheet, +8% est.) applied to fired design_elements
Run it on your parcel
The same pipeline runs on any Alberta boundary you draw, in about two minutes, free, with no signup. County context for this area: Strathcona County farm guide, well depth, acreages near Sherwood Park.
Public land chosen deliberately; no private parcel is shown. The report is a planning aid, not a title search, well log, wetland assessment, engineering design, or appraisal.