Florida Key Deer Land Acquisition Edward Jackson 11/18/2014 RENR – 405 – 599 Texas A&M University

Florida Key Deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium) Lives only in the Florida Keys Sub-species of the white-tailed deer Migrated over a land bridge during the Wisconsin glaciation Earliest documented migration in the 1550s Listed as an endangered species Hunted for food supply Banned in 1939 Population has risen since 1955

Our Goal Determine potential, private, undeveloped land for acquisition using a GIS To find a suitable habitat for the Key Deer population Based on popular vegetation for the species Away from major roads This is where most deaths occur Projection Requested Contiguous Albers Equal Area Conic Central Meridian: -84.0 1st Standard Parallel: 24.0 2nd Standard Parallel: 31.5 Reference Latitude: 24.0 False Easting: 400015 False Northing: 50.0

Mapping the Area Add data provided Vegetation Mortality Ownership Ensure that all layer are correctly projected Use the Contiguous Albers Equal Area Conic

Initial Map

Vegetation Map

Adding the Telemetry Points Convert Telemetry locations .dbf to .shp Add data –> add XY data -> edit Project to NAD_83 Export data as a shapefile A cluster of points will appear off of the map as shown below

Define and Project the Telemetry Points Use the Define Projection tool Use Contiguous Albers Equal Area Conic Project tool Use this tool to project the telemetry points to align with the other layers Set output to North_America_1983

Mapped Deer Telemetry Points

Joining Relevant Points Use the Spatial Join tool to join the telemetry data with the types of vegetation This allows you to select telemetry points according to where they were found in each type of vegetation Fill in the table provided Calculate the expected amount of observed deer Ratios are calculated and show preferred vegetation Pick two forms of preferred vegetation Hammocks and Pinelands were used in this project

Vegetation/Deer Frequency Table

Create a Preferred Vegetation Layer Select Pinelands and Hammocks in the vegetation layer Export this data to create a layer that shows only the preferred vegetation Dissolve tool Use this to dissolve unnecessary data Multipart tool Use this tool to keep data for each polygon in the preferred vegetation

Pinelands and Hammocks

Add Road Data Convert e00 file to shapefile using the Conversion tools -> to Coverage Select the major roads Highway 1 and Key Deer Boulevard have the highest mortality rates Create a Buffer Creating a buffer will keep these areas out of your selection 30 meter buffer for highway 1 50 meter buffer for Key Deer Boulevard Merge the buffers into a single buffer

Roads

Map with Road Buffer

Selecting an Area for the Habitat Away from human activity Close to federal land Outside of the buffer zone Close together if multiple parcels Selected multiple parcels Total acreage: 4.11 acres

Determining the Cost Determination Factors Cost per acre Total acres of undeveloped land: 1217 Total cost of undeveloped land: $28,924,293 Cost per acre Total cost/Total Acres $28,924,293/1217 Cost per acre = $23,766.88

Selecting this location Selected on these factors Total cost: $97,173 Total acreage: 4.11 Proximity to federal land Gives a better chance for expansion Protects land from future development

Final Map