Lab:3 Vector Analysis with ArcGIS

Goal: 
To become familiarized with geoprocessing tools in commonly used vector analysis in ArcGIS to determine suitable habitat for bears in the study area of Marquette County, Michigan

Background: 
The Michigan DNR requested information regarding the location of suitable black bear habitats to aid the development of a bear management plan. The DNR asked that habitat recommendations on DNR management land, and 5km from urban land coverage.

Methods: 
 Preliminary research in the determination of suitable bear habitat required the analysis of current known black bear populations within the study area.  I added a table of X,Y coordinates showing bear locations (provided) as an event theme and displayed them in ArcMap as a feature class.  Next, I made a spatial join between the bear locations and the land cover data to show which land cover types current black bears were living in.  Summarizing the resulting data provided the top three land cover types black bears preferred.

Biologists in the area indicated that black bears are most often found near streams due to the vital resources they provide.  I investigated the theory and took proximity to streams into consideration by creating a 500m buffer around all streams within the study area.  I then clipped all areas of the newly created layer that fell within DNR management land.

The DNR also requested that all proposed habitats be 5km away from urban or built-up land. To do so, I first selected all urban and built-up land from the land cover feature class and created a new layer.  Next I created a 5km buffer around urban and built-up land and used the erase tool to eliminate all proposed habitat area that fell within the buffer.

A map was created showing the following layers: Suitable bear habitat according to preferred land cover and proximity to streams, suitable bear habitat that lies in DNR management land and is 5km from the urban development, streams, current bear locations, and bear locations within 500km of a stream.  A locator map was also included to show the study area within the larger scale of the State of Michigan. In addition, the process of data manipulation is visually represented in the data flow model that I have generated.

Figure 1:Sample python script used in conducting the Arcgis tools

Results:
Analysis of bear populations within the study area show prove that bears are typically found near streams. Biologists consider a habitat characteristic a defining criteria important if it is represented by 30% of the population. Of the current bear locations in the study area, 72% are within 500m of a stream showing that proximity to streams plays a vital role in habitat suitability.    Unfortunately, even though there is a large proportion of suitable bear habitat land in the study area, only a small portion is found on DNR management and 5km away from urban development.

Figure 2:  Final map displaying suitable bear habitat according to land cover, proximity to streams, and distance from urban development

Figure 3: Data flow model displaying the steps taken to obtain the final product

Sources: Michigan Center for Geographic Information
http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/mgdl/nlcd/metadata/nlcdshp.html
http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/spatialdatalibrary/metadata/wildlife_mgmt_units.htm
http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/mgdl/framework/metadata/Marquette.html