For the last Scenario in our first assignment of the Summer 2021 semester, we have completed a Corridor Analysis showing ranked connections between two protected areas of land, or park areas, within the Coronado National Forest. These areas of protected land and forest are utilized by black bear, and to counteract the fragmentation of habitat, this analysis aimed to find and identify the best potential route between the two areas.
In order to complete the analysis, I had to reclassify the provided data to define distance to roads, mid-elevation areas, and suitable land. Cost Distance was ran on the two protected park areas within the forest, and larger intervals were used to compensate for the broad values in the raster. A challenge was the color ramp choices in relation to the symbology, as there is a lot going on in this map even though it aims to prioritize the corridor. A Weighted Overlay was used to rank the rasters, and the entire suitability model was "inverted" to better display the cost surface, where light colors are lower cost and higher elevation and the darker colors represent urban areas.
This assignment has been long and challenging, but it was another valuable learning experience. My confidence using the Euclidean Distance tool has never been better!
Comments
Post a Comment