BEC Map - Attribute Catalogue

A list of the various 'regional' (zone/subzone/variant/phase) ecological units of the current biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification. At this 'regional' level, vegetation, soils and topography are used to infer the climate and to identify geographic areas that have relatively uniform climate. These geographic areas are termed biogeoclimatic units. The basic biogeoclimatic unit is the Subzone. These units are grouped into Zones and may be further subdivided into variants based on further refinements of climate (e.g., wetter, drier, snowier). The map units of the Biogeoclimatic map are mapped to the highest possible thematic resolution - subzone or variant. In some cases, where further sampling is required to define the unit climatically, polygons are labelled as an undifferentiated unit (e.g. CWH un)

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated April 17, 2026, 22:09 (UTC)
Created April 17, 2026, 22:09 (UTC)
contact_email Will.Mackenzie@gov.bc.ca
contact_person {"en": "Government of British Columbia; Government of British Columbia; FAIB Data Management", "fr": "Gouvernement de la Colombie-Britannique; Gouvernement de la Colombie-Britannique; FAIB Data Management"}
criticality_level []
data_dictionary EPSG:3005,EPSG,unknown
geographic_scope []
open_canada_collection fgp
open_canada_date_published 2011-03-09 00:00:00
open_canada_keywords {"en": ["BEC", "BGC", "BGCDB", "Canada", "biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification", "climate", "ecological land classification", "vegetation", "Government information"], "fr-t-en": ["BEC", "BGC", "BGCDB", "Canada", "classification des écosystèmes biogéoclimatiques", "climat", "classification écologique des terres", "végétation", "Information gouvernementale"]}
open_canada_subject ["nature_and_environment", "science_and_technology"]
sensitivity_level unrestricted
title_fr
update_frequency as_needed