Introduction

The Al-Pac FMA area lies almost entirely within the Boreal Forest Natural Region, a mosaic of forests and wetlands that supports a rich diversity of species and ecosystems. Conserving that diversity is central to Al-Pac’s stewardship approach^[1]. 

Al-Pac uses a landscape-level, adaptive approach that integrates biodiversity objectives into forest planning, harvest design, and regeneration to emulate natural disturbance and sustain native habitats.

Through its Forest Stewardship Council® certification (FSC® C022642) and High Conservation Value framework, Al-Pac identifies and manages forests to maintain important habitats, protect species at risk, and sustain ecological processes across the FMA area^[2].

Building on previous assessments from 2009, 2014, and 2020, this report uses the ABMI’s standardized, province-wide monitoring data to examine how natural landscapes and species are responding to human footprint, wildfire, and other land base changes over time.

New in this 2025 update:

• New indicators of natural landscape condition, including native cover (terrestrial and aquatic habitats) and landscape connectivity.
• Extended trend data for vegetation and human footprint (1950–2023).
• Updated biodiversity intactness for more than 640 species using new habitat models.
• Integrated land base and sector effects linking human activity and natural disturbance to species habitat suitability.

This update also includes research spotlights highlighting recent findings relevant to sustainable forest management, including:

• Evaluation of harvest retention patches, including comparisons of their habitat characteristics to wildfire patches and their role as habitat for forest songbirds.
• Fragmentation effects on Canada Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler.
• Vegetation recovery on seismic lines to support caribou habitat restoration.