The map illustrate the changes or increases in field frequency of Canada thistle in the Prairie provinces.
Each province is divided up into ecodistricts or in some cases groups of ecodistricts. Each ecodistrict is shaded one of six colors where brown represents more than a fifty percent change in field frequency of Canada thistle, maroon a twenty point one to fifty percent change, dark red a ten point one to twenty percent change, red a zero point one to ten percent change, light red represents absence from the area and white indicates that the species not surveyed.
Data for the map illustrating field frequency changes in the 1980s are as follows. Areas with more than fifty percent change include the Interlake and western Manitoba, some areas of central Saskatchewan, and central Alberta. Areas with twenty point one to fifty percent change include southern Manitoba, central Saskatchewan and eastern Alberta. These areas largely correspond to the Boreal Shield and Boreal Plains ecozones. In the 1980s areas of southern Saskatchewan and south-eastern Alberta were not surveyed for the species.