Results

    The first suitability map we created (that did NOT contain the road variable) showed that the most suitable land was clustered around the two streams.  The elevations and slopes surrounding the streams all received the highest value of “1”.  However, when we added the “proximity to road” variable to the raster calculator equation and produced a second suitability map, the results were much different.  The land around the north-south trending stream retained its high suitability values, but only because the road followed the course of this stream (Figure 6).  Land surrounding the second stream that had previously been classified as highly suitable was now classified as completely unsuitable.  These results seemed more accurate to us because they corresponded well to the actual locations of the 17 specimens.

   Figure 6. Final site suitability map for Valley Oaks at the Chesebro Canyon study site.