Suitability and Least-Cost Analysis

For this analysis, suitability of black bear habitat was defined using Euclidean Distance followed the Reclassify tool to define distance from the road. Next, the elevation layer was reclassified to identify mid-elevation ranges and finally the land cover data was reclassified showing different values for different habitat types. Once each layer was reclassified, the criteria for suitable black bear habitat were combined using the Weighted Overlay tool. From there, cost surface was created by inverting the suitability (10-suitability). The Cost Distance tool was then run from each Coronado forest polygon using the cost surface. Then using the two cost distance rasters, the Corridor tool was run. From that point, the best corridor cells were selected using a threshold on corridor values and the final corridor raster was created.