GIS I: Lab 4: Vector Analysis with ArcGIS

Introduction:

The goal of this lab was to determine suitable habitat for bears in the study area of Marquette County, Michigan using Esri ArcGIS vector analysis tools.

Methods:

First, I added the provided x, y coordinates of bears in Marquette county to a map in Arc GIS. Next, I used the Intersect tool to generate a feature class containing each bear's coordinates, and the land cover type in which it was found. I then summarized these results to find the top 3 land types that the bears were found in. Next, I used the Buffer tool to create a boundary around the streams in the area, and used the Intersect tool to create a feature class that showed me the bears that were found within 500 meters of a stream. Noting that 72% of bears were found within this distance, I decided to include this factor in my suitable habitat. I then used the Select by Attributes tool to create a feature class that only contained the top three land cover types mentioned earlier, and intersected this with the buffered streams feature class. I dissolved the results to remove unwanted internal boundaries. This left me with a suitable bear habitat based on land coverage type and proximity to a stream. Next, I restricted the results to DNR management areas by adding a feature class containing all of the DNR management lands in the county, and using the Clip tool to restrict this to my study area. Again, I used the Dissolve tool to remove the unwanted internal boundaries in the resulting feature class. I then intersected the DNR managed lands in my study area with the suitable habitat area, leaving me with all suitable bear habitat on DNR managed land. Next, I queried the land cover feature class to get all urban and built-up land. I gave the selection its own feature class and buffered it by 5 kilometers. I then used the Erase tool to remove any land within the 5 kilometers of any urban land, which left me with all DNR managed land with suitable bear habitat that is at least 5 kilometers away from urban land. See below for data flow model and map.

Results:

The above map shows the locations of bears in Marquette county, the total suitable bear habitat, and the suitable bear habitat that is in DNR managed land. The habitat model was based on having a coverage type of either mixed forest, forest wetland or evergreen forestland, being within 500 meters of a stream, and being at least 5 kilometers from urban land coverage.