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Objectives

Analyze intersection with protected wetlands, uplands, and conservation lands.

Inspect location of homes and land parcels within proposed corridor AND within a 400ft buffer zone placed around the corridor.

Examine county schools and their proximity to the proposed corridor and the buffer zone.

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Proposed Location

Located in Manatee and Sarasota County.
Corridor covers 6,566 square acres.
'Basemap' throughout presentation will show major roads and surrounding counties.
All data projected to Florida State Plane Projection for most accurate measurement.

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Use of GIS and Data

ArcGIS is used because different types of data can be combined, converted, measured, and illustrated to answer questions about a region.
For the FPL Corridor, we are quantifying relationships between features and measuring areas. ArcGIS allows us to do this and communicate our findings clearly on a map.
Initial data for this project was taken from the U.S. Census Bureau, Florida Department of Transportation, Florida Natural Areas Inventory, National Wetlands Inventory, and Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

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Strategy

A brief outline of the problem solving process used lead us to our results.

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Environmental Impact Methodology

Question: Which environmentally protected lands will be impacted by the imposition of the corridor AND how much of these lands will be impacted? This also applies to protected wetlands and uplands.
Data layers for the environmentally protected lands were 'queried' in ArcGIS Pro.
A 'union' was then performed to isolate desired area.
Resulting data tables provided results.
For wetlands, layers were queried, clipped, and the resulting data sets were analyzed.

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Environmental Impact

Total Upland Impacted	5652 Square Acres
Total Wetland Impacted	914 Square Acres
Total Wetlands/Uplands Impacted	6566 Square Acres
Total Corridor Area	6566 Square Acres
Percent Corridor Uplands	86.1%
Percent Corridor Wetlands	13.9%

Conservation Lands DIRECTLY Impacted	163.4 Square Acres
TOTAL Conservation Lands Impacted	10,452.6 Square Acres

Conservation Lands Impacted
Lake Manatee Lower Watershed
Lake Manatee State Park
Heritage Ranch Conservation Easement

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Uplands and Wetlands Impact

Total Upland Impacted	5652 Square Acres
Total Wetland Impacted	914 Square Acres
Total Wetlands/Uplands Impacted	6566 Square Acres
Total Corridor Area	6566 Square Acres
Percent Corridor Uplands	86.1%
Percent Corridor Wetlands	13.9%
Study Area Uplands/Wetlands	137,707 Square Acres
Percent Study Area Uplands	4.1%
Percent Study Area Wetlands	.66%

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We All Live Downstream

When intersect was performed, a large swath of this region was highlighted as intersecting.

This is because of INTERCONNECTIVITY.

We must remember these ecosystems are interconnected. Damage done to one area can permeate down to others.

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Homes and Parcel Methodology

Question: How many homes are within the Proposed Corridor and how many are within a 400ft buffer zone around the Corridor.
Question: How many land parcels are within the Proposed Corridor and how many are within the 400ft buffer zone?

Geoprocessing tool - Buffer - to create a 400ft zone around Proposed Corridor.
Georeferenced the houses by counting them on a satellite image.
Queried how many were within the parcel and the buffer.
Land parcels were queried for within buffer and within corridor.
Intersect query and union tool used to for parcels impacted by corridor.
Union tool used to find Sarasota parcels impacted by buffer.

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Houses and Parcels Analysis

Within Proposed Corridor	16
Within Buffer Zone	47
Total Homes:	63

Houses

Within Corridor	23
Within Buffer Zone	9
Impacted by Corridor AND Buffer	179

Within Corridor	3
Within Buffer Zone	23
Impacted by Corridor	27

Manatee

Sarasota

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Schools

Data: Florida Dept. Of Education and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Geocoded location of all schools out map.
Performed a Select by Location Query to determine if any schools resided in proposed corridor or buffer.

Analysis

No schools were found to be within the corridor or buffer zone.

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Conclusion

Very small amount of Uplands and Wetlands in Study Area impacted.

.66% of Wetlands in Study Area affected.
4.1% of Uplands in Study Area affected.

Small area of Environmentally Protected Zones directly impacted 163.4 acres of 10,453 acres of zones that encounter the corridor.
Only 63 homes impacted. 16 homes within corridor and 47 in 400ft buffer.
Minimal Parcel Impact:

Manatee County: 23 within corridor, 9 within buffer, 179 impacted by corridor.
Sarasota County: 3 within corridor, 23 within buffer, 27 impacted by corridor.

Zero Schools Impacted.
REMEMBER: All area within corridor is either Upland or Wetland, we all live downstream, so care must be paid to actions conducted in the proposed corridor.

This Proposed Corridor Analysis illustrates that the proposed corridor has a relatively small impact on variables within the study zone.

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Works Cited

Jovannig (n.d.) America's Everglades. Retrieved October 12, 2023.

stock.adobe.com

Surfrider Foundation, (n.d.) Retrieved October 12, 2023. Protect Critical Wetlands, Florida (surfrider.org)