Raster Based GIS Conference

Huckleberry Suitability Analysis: Glacier National Park


One of the most iconic species residing in Glacier National Park are grizzly bears, yet these massive animals depend on huckleberries as a critical food source. Determining the locations of ideal huckleberry habitats through suitability analysis will identify the percentage of land cover able to sustain these vital plants. In addition, the path distance accounting for elevation change, slope, and an adjusted Tobler’s Hiking Function can illustrate the availability of huckleberries to public access. Satellite imagery was utilized to establish a National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) through supervised image classification. Then, suitability was established by evaluating aspect, slope, elevation, existing vegetation, tree type, canopy cover, and wildfire history. Finally, Euclidean distance and distance accumulation of single pixels values representing the rate of meters per minute was ascertained. Huckleberry suitability accounts for over half of the parks total area, with high plant suitability in 22.8% of the park and moderate suitability in 33.1% of the park.

About this Student
I have a bachelor’s degree in Geoscience from Colorado State University and am currently enrolled in my second semester with the Geospatial Information Technology program at Front Range Community College. I hope to continue my GIS education into a master’s degree by studying the convergence of natural resources and spatial analysis, and pursue a career that blends resource management with other natural science processes through the lens of GIS analysis.