Lab 2 - Corridors

Our second lab assignment explored Least-Cost Paths and Corridor Analysis. The first scenario consisted of determining the optimal path for a new pipeline based on slope as the cost factor, followed by the addition of river crossings as an additional cost, then a corridor analysis with the same cost factor, and finally a start-to-finish analysis for potential black bear habitat corridors.

The scenarios included some skills I learned in Lab 1, such as using the Slope tool, Reclassify tool, and suitability analysis. New tools and methods included creating a cost surface, cost distance raster, backlink raster, and of course how to work with the Cost Path and Corridor tools. For the main corridor map I considered various factors, such as slope and land cover in a weighted overlay, which was then inverted to produce a high-low value cost surface. From there I produced a corridor raster and used the identify tool and suggested literature on wildlife corridors to try to determine a threshold value for the corridors. The map below highlights three least-resistance corridors that black bears could potentially use to move between two districts in the Coronado National Forest.

The most challenging part of the lab was just staying organized with all the different files that are created when running least-cost and corridor analysis and continuing to familiarize myself with floating points vs integers and other numerical results. I think I am getting the hang of some of the steps in these types of analyses, but looking back at previous steps in the lab is still very necessary.

Least-cost corridor analysis for black bear movement between two districts in the Coronado National Forest.