Wildlife Camera Metadata Standards for Alberta Version 1.0

This document was created by the Alberta Remote Camera Steering Committee (RCSC). The Alberta RCSC is chaired by Alberta Environment and Parks and comprises a group of wildlife camera experts from academia, government and not-for-profit organizations who aim to advance the science of wildlife camera monitoring and research while facilitating collaboration and knowledge sharing among wildlife camera users in Alberta.
The objective of this Wildlife Camera Metadata Protocol is to provide guidance on the types of data that should be collected and reported when using remote cameras (also referred to as camera traps) to detect wildlife in Alberta. The goal of the protocol is to support the creation of a consistent, consolidated wildlife camera dataset across Alberta. Consistent collection of wildlife camera data supports data consolidation and, accordingly, the creation of large spatiotemporal datasets on wildlife distributions across Alberta. This provides opportunities to answer research
and monitoring questions across jurisdictions and ultimately at national and global scales.
Aiming to align metadata collection standards across western Canada, this document heavily relied on the Wildlife Camera Metadata Standards developed by the province of British Columbia. This protocol follows a hierarchical structure that mirrors the British Columbia Standards but includes explicit instructions on how wildlife camera data should be collected and documented in Alberta.
This protocol does not provide guidance on wildlife camera monitoring or research designs.  However, documenting wildlife camera metadata following this standard will establish a robust foundation when developing a study design for wildlife camera monitoring or research. Careful consideration of the project objectives and data collection design for any wildlife camera project is encouraged. Recommendations for study designs that are appropriate to achieve various objectives are available in reports and the scientific literature.