Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States, Volume 3

Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5088
By: , and 

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Abstract

Ungulates (hooved mammals) have a broad distribution across the western United States and play an important role in maintaining predator-prey dynamics, affecting vegetation communities, and providing economic benefits to regional communities through tourism and hunting. Throughout the diverse landscapes they occupy, many ungulate populations undertake seasonal migrations to exploit spatially and temporally variable resources and to avoid predation or other threats. As the human footprint continues to expand across the western United States, ungulates increasingly face more obstacles on their migratory journeys. These obstacles threaten the long-term persistence of existing migrations. As a result, wildlife management agencies across the western United States have worked to identify and protect (or enhance) ungulate migration corridors and seasonal ranges identified from global positioning system (GPS) collar data. These efforts garnered additional support through the U.S. Department of the Interior Secretarial Order (SO) 3362, which was initiated in 2018 and provided Federal support for enhancing habitat quality of big-game winter ranges and migration corridors across the western states.

Further, SO 3362 prompted the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to establish the Corridor Mapping Team (CMT): a collaboration between USGS and participating State and Federal wildlife management agencies, as well as numerous Tribal Nations. The CMT works collaboratively to map ungulate migrations and seasonal ranges throughout the western United States within the Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States report series. Volume 1 of the series was published in 2020 and contained migrations and winter ranges from 42 herds across 5 states. Volume 2 was published in 2022 and contained migrations and seasonal ranges from an additional 65 herds. This report, Volume 3 in the series, details migrations and seasonal ranges from an additional 45 herds throughout most western states. In aggregate, the report series has detailed and mapped the migrations and seasonal ranges of 152 ungulate herds and serves as a map-based inventory of the documented ungulate migrations across the western United States. The data layers for most of the herds included in the report series are also available to the public by the USGS. In addition to the included herd maps, this volume provides an overview of the many ways the mapping efforts associated with the CMT are being integrated into local conservation, management, and policy throughout the western United States.

Suggested Citation

Kauffman, M., Lowrey, B., Berg, J., Bergen, S., Brimeyer, D., Burke, P., Cufaude, T., Cain, J.W., III, Cole, J., Courtemanch, A., Cowardin, M., Cunningham, J., DeVivo, M., Diamond, J., Duvuvuei, O., Fattebert, J., Ennis, J., Finley, D., Fort, J., Fralick, G., Freeman, E., Gagnon, J., Garcia, J., Gelzer, E., Graham, M., Gray, J., Greenspan, E., Hall, L.E., Hendricks, C., Holland, A., Holmes, B., Huggler, K., Hurley, M., Jeffreys, E., Johnson, A., Knox, L., Krasnow, K., Lockyer, Z., Manninen, H., McDonald, M., McKee, J.L., Meacham, J., Merkle, J., Moore, B., Mong, T.W., Nielsen, C., Oates, B., Olsen, K., Olson, D., Olson, L., Pieron, M., Powell, J., Prince, A., Proffitt, K., Reddell, C., Riginos, C., Ritson, R., Robatcek, S., Roberts, S., Sawyer, H., Schroeder, C., Shapiro, J., Simpson, N., Sprague, S., Steingisser, A., Tatman, N., Turnock, B., Wallace, C., and Wolf, L., 2022, Ungulate migrations of the western United States, Volume 3: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2022–5088, 114 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20225088.

ISSN: 2328-0328 (online)

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Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgments
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Herd Summaries
  • References Cited
  • Appendix 1. Methods
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Ungulate migrations of the western United States, volume 3
Series title Scientific Investigations Report
Series number 2022-5088
DOI 10.3133/sir20225088
Year Published 2022
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston VA
Contributing office(s) Coop Res Unit Seattle
Description Report: xvi, 114 p.; Data Release
Country United States
State Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming
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