Suitability Explorer

EMS land-use synthesis — TPWD ecological classes reclassed 1–9:

67% working landscape · 16% environmental integrity. Hover a hex for the EMS class.

Hydrology synthesis — per-catchment cost (stream-order scale × function/sensitivity/vulnerability/capacity, climate-weighted):

Cost is bimodal — highest in LOCAL headwaters (sensitivity) + REGIONAL rivers (inflow/flood); AREA tributaries lowest. Hover a catchment.

Landscape ecological pattern — vegetation naturalness + patch size/core + connectivity + protection:

Only 15.8% natural, and 65% of THAT is edge — habitat is already fragmented. The few intact cores + riparian corridors carry outsized value. Hover a hex.

T&E potential habitat (HSI from vegetation+hydrology+landscape). Cyan outline = USFWS designated critical habitat:

57% of the corridor is potential T&E habitat; only 1.7% is designated — 99% of potential is undesignated. The policy gap: a 50-yr line should weigh potential/expanding habitat (incl. the inland crane node), not just the current snapshot.

EarthIQ LCP v00 — PROVISIONAL. Least-cost path Hillje → Blu Lacy on an equal-weight composite of the five surfaces built so far (EMS land-use, landscape integrity, T&E potential, hydrology, HAND flood standing). Not yet in the cost: co-location (cost-reducing), buildings, parcels, cultural, visual, geotech, no-go.

Green line = LCP (— mi). Shaded hexes = 1% accumulated-cost corridor (every cell whose best path through it costs ≤1% more than the LCP; — km²). Its width is the surface's low contrast talking — the environmental family alone barely discriminates on this plain.

HAND v01.1 — height above nearest drainage from 10 m 3DEP, channels derived from the terrain (5 km²) + NHD trunks; tier = HAND ÷ flood-of-record height for a drainage that size (curve from 30 USGS gauges); coastal cells = elevation above MHHW:

Hover a hex for HAND, drainage area, FEMA zone and whether HAND and NFHL agree. Engineered from terrain + gauge record, not from the NFHL; FEMA is the comparator.