The goal in this lab was to choose and apply various geoprocessing tools in ArcMap to find a suitable habitat for bears in Marquette County, Michigan. The process I used included mapping a GPS Excel file of bear locations, determining the forest types in which these GPS locations were located, determining the bear locations in reference to streams, finding suitable habitat based on two given criteria, finding suitable habitat which also fell within Michigan DNR management areas, and eliminating any habitat near urban areas. The resulting map shows the study area as a whole, the areas that would be suitable habitat for the bears, and the suitable habitat that is within DNR managed areas. It also shows the location of each bear in the study as well as the streams.
