Bald Eagle Wildlife Study Using Geographical Information Systems

Project Proposal The State of Florida is looking for an area to set up increased protection for the bald eagle's habitat. I was tasked by the State of Florida to help identify an ideal location to set up this preserve. They would also like to know some of the manmade factors that could affect the survival of the species. The final decision will be made by the Conservation Board of Florida. After creating multiple maps showing the spatial relationship between bald eagle nests and factors that may affect the environment around those nests I have come up with two possible locations for a preserve. Of these two locations I recommend the selection of the area labeled Potential Area Two.

Bald Eagles Bald eagles were named the National Symbol of the United States in 1782 At the time their population was estimated between 25,000 to 75,000 in the lower 48 States (Huerta) Bald eagles feed primarily on fish Bald eagles are monogamous and lay 1 to 3 eggs a year With the introduction of the pesticide DDT to the environment, the population of the bald eagle dramatically declined to 420 breeding pairs by 1963 DDT banned In 1973 they were listed as endangered by the Endangered Species Act In the 30 years since the bald eagle’s numbers have grown to 4,450. Florida has the second highest number of bald eagle breeding pairsin the lower 48 Bald eagles remain threatened

Distribution of Bald Eagle Breeding Pairs in the United States Data taken from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and added to United States shapefile.

Goals Locate an area in Florida to focus the project on use GIS to map out bald eagle nests use different man made and natural variables near bald eagle nests to select potential locations for increased protection Major roads, rivers and lakes, solid waste facilities and major cities

Downloaded from: Florida Geographic Data Library Bald Eagle Nest Shapefile Florida County Shapefile Downloaded from: US Census GIS Data Select by attribute only those nests that were active in 2006 Spatial Join Spatially join the Bald Eagle layer to the county layer Summarize the attribute table of the new shapefile using the FIPS column Join attributes from the summarized table to the original county layer Symbology Use graduated colors choropleth map to show the distribution of bald eagle nests per county.

Choropleth Map of Eagle Nests by County in Florida

Analysis of Choropleth Map From the choropleth map I decided to select nine counties for a larger scale analysis of the bald eagle Polk county had the greatest number of active eagle nests in 2006 I selected Polk county and the following other counties for analysis: Volusia, Seminole, Orange, Lake, Alachua, Marion, Polk, Osceola

Selected Study Area of Florida

Bald Eagle Nest Shapefile Selected Area Shapefile Use ToolBox to merge the counties to create a single large polygon. Selected Area Merged Polygon Use the selected area shapefile to clip the bald eagle nest data by location Clip New Shapefile created of just those nests located inside the selected area.

Larger scale view of selected area with those eagle nests that fall within.

Perform the same clip operation to Florida Major Roads Florida Rivers and Lakes Florida Solid Waste Facilities Florida Major Cities

Florida Major Roads Selected Area Bald Eagle Nest Clip Create buffers around the Major Roads CLIP Use buffers to clip the bald eagle nest that intersect the roads buffer

scale 1:2,000,000 meters Buffers around Roads

Scale 1:400,000 meters Buffers around Roads

Roads & Bald Eagle Nest Total Number of Bald Eagle Nests in Selected Area 578 Put buffers around the roads to show how close the birds nests are. Use select by location to find out the number of nests inside the buffer. 200 meter buffer: how many nests are within that buffer: meter buffer: how many within this buffer: meter buffer: how many within this buffer: meter buffer: how many in this buffer: 358

Solid Waste Selected Area Bald Eagle Nest Clip Create buffers around the Solid Waste Facilities CLIP Use buffers to clip the bald eagle nest that intersect the solid waste buffer

Scale 1:2,000,000 Buffers around Solid Waste Facilities

Scale 1:400,000 meters

Solid Waste Facilities & Bald Eagle Nest Total Number of Bald Eagle Nests in Selected Area 578 Put buffers around the solid waste facilities to show how close the birds nests are. Use select by location to find out the number of nests inside the buffer. How many nests are within 200 meters: zero How many nests are within 400 meters: 1 How many nests are within 800 meters: 3 How many nests are within 1600 meters: 10 How many nests are within 3200 meters: 50 How many nests are within 6400 meters: 145

Rivers & Lakes Selected Area Bald Eagle Nest Clip Create buffers around the Rivers and Lakes CLIP Use buffers to clip the bald eagle nest that intersect the rivers and lakes buffer

Scale 1:2,000,000 Buffers around Rivers & Lakes

Scale 1:400,000 meters

Rivers & Lakes & Bald Eagle Nest Total Number of Bald Eagle Nests in Selected Area 578 Put buffers around the rivers and lakes to show how close the birds nests are. Use select by location to find out the number of nests inside the buffer. How many nests are within 200 meters: 31 How many nests are within 400 meters: 53 How many nests are within 800 meters: 107 How many nests are within 1600 meters: 182 How many nests are within 3200 meters: 265 How many nests are within 6400 meters: 346

Major Florida Cities Selected Area Bald Eagle Nest Clip Create buffers around the Cities CLIP Use buffers to clip the bald eagle nest that intersect the city buffer

Scale 1:2,000,000 Buffers around Florida Major Cities

Scale 1:400,000 meters Buffers around Florida Major Cities

Major Cities & Bald Eagle Nest Total Number of Bald Eagle Nests in Selected Area 578 Put buffers around the cities to show how close the birds nests are. Use select by location to find out the number of nests inside the buffer. How many nests are within 200 meters: zero How many nests are within 400 meters: zero How many nests are within 800 meters: zero How many nests are within 1600 meters: 9 How many nests are within 3200 meters: 31 How many nests are within 6400 meters: 112

Final Map For a final map I added buffers from each of the variables to the map Chose the buffer based on what the average number of nest within the buffers was The buffer closest to the average was chosen Selected the bald eagle nests that did not intersect any of the buffers

Scale 1:2,000,000 Buffers around Cities, Roads, Rivers & Lakes, and Solid Waste Facilities

Potential Sites for Extra Protection of Bald Eagles Potential Area 2 Scale 1:275,000 Potential Area 1 Scale 1:275,000

Raster Data of Florida Water Bodies

Conclusion The two possible areas for increase protection that I chose were chosen because they both had a large number of bird nests, were located near water supplies and were not intersecting any of the buffers that were created around the man made variables. Of the two areas I would suggest the second over the first because there is a larger area of land without major roads. It also appears from the raster data that there are more areas of water.

Future Research Suggestions Study the selected areas at a larger scale Study the selected areas with more variables Add a habitat shapefile to find out what trees the bald eagles like to nest in Study the possible future land use in the area Add building shapefiles to a larger scale study Add non major roads Add information on bald eagle mortality events