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Spatial Extent of Data

USGS Data Source

ISO 19115 Topic Category

Oregon Mule Deer Southeast Stopovers

Most of the Southeast mule deer herd winters along the Owyhee River in regions containing sagebrush communities and Columbia Basin grassland mixed with non-native annual grasslands. These mule deer either migrate west to summer ranges on Road Canyon and Gravel Ridges or east to the Owyhee Mountains along the Idaho border, with one mule deer migrating as far as Bald Mountain, 38.3 mi (61.6 km) into Idaho. Summer ranges feature shrubland, Columbia Basin grasslands, western juniper, and evergreen forests. In 2014, the Buzzard Complex fires burned 398,596 acres (161,306 ha), including Road Canyon, allowing medusahead and other non-native grasses to invade areas with originally low perennial plant abundance. Five mule deer winter separately near U.S. Route 95, in areas containing higher percentages of western juniper. In the spring, they travel southeast into Nevada to summer on the Santa Rosa Range, with one mule deer migrating to the Tuscarora Mountains. Of the Southeast mule deer that were tracked for at least 100 days, 82 percent migrate seasonally, with several moving to summer ranges in different states, complicating issues of population management. The Southeast mule deer herd faces several challenges, including highways and the low abundance of preferred browse. The northeastern section of U.S. Route 95 had an AADT value of 2,007 vehicles in 2018 and intersects multiple migration corridors, with mule deer commonly crossing the highway along Succor Creek and Rock Creek Flat. In summer, Southeast mule deer spend more time in riparian zones and must compete with grazing cattle in the Owyhee Mountains for high-quality forage during drought years when natural water sources evaporate. These mapping layers show the location of the stopovers for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Southeast population in Oregon. They were developed from 140 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 37 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 5−13 hours.

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Author(s) Matthew J Kauffman orcid, Blake H Lowrey orcid, Chloe Beaupre orcid, Scott Bergen, Stefanie Bergh, Kevin Blecha orcid, Samantha Bundick, Hunter Burkett, James W Cain orcid, Peyton Carl, David Casady orcid, Corey Class, Alyson B. Courtemanch orcid, Michelle Cowardin, Jennifer Diamond, Catherine Dugger, Orrin Duvuvuei, Joanna Ennis, Julien Fattebert orcid, Michelle Flenner, Jessica Fort, Gary Fralick, Ian Freeman, Jeff Gagnon, David Garcelon, Kyle Garrison, Emily Gelzer, Evan Greenspan orcid, Valerie Hinojoza-Rood, Pat Hnilicka, Andy Holland, Brian Hudgens, Bart Kroger, Art Lawson, Cody McKee, Jennifer A McKee, Jerod Merkle orcid, Tony W Mong, Haley Nelson orcid, Brendan Oates, Marie-Pier Poulin orcid, Craig Reddell, Robert Ritson, Hall Sawyer orcid, Cody Schroeder, Jessie Shapiro, Scott Sprague, Alethea Steingisser, Erik Steiner orcid, Sam Stephens, Patrick R Swazo-Hinds, Blair Stringham, Nicole Tatman, Benjamin Turnock, Cody F Wallace orcid, Don Whittaker, Benjamin Wise, Heiko U Wittmer orcid, Katerina D Wood
Publication Date 2024-04-10
Beginning Date of Data 2018
Ending Date of Data 2022
Data Contact
DOI https://doi.org/10.5066/P9SS9GD9
Citation Kauffman, M.J., Lowrey, B.H., Beaupre, C., Bergen, S., Bergh, S., Blecha, K., Bundick, S., Burkett, H., Cain, J.W., Carl, P., Casady, D., Class, C., Courtemanch, A.B., Cowardin, M., Diamond, J., Dugger, C., Duvuvuei, O., Ennis, J., Fattebert, J., Flenner, M., Fort, J., Fralick, G., Freeman, I., Gagnon, J., Garcelon, D., Garrison, K., Gelzer, E., Greenspan, E., Hinojoza-Rood, V., Hnilicka, P., Holland, A., Hudgens, B., Kroger, B., Lawson, A., McKee, C., McKee, J.A., Merkle, J., Mong, T.W., Nelson, H., Oates, B., Poulin, M., Reddell, C., Ritson, R., Sawyer, H., Schroeder, C., Shapiro, J., Sprague, S., Steingisser, A., Steiner, E., Stephens, S., Swazo-Hinds, P.R., Stringham, B., Tatman, N., Turnock, B., Wallace, C.F., Whittaker, D., Wise, B., Wittmer, H.U., and Wood, K.D., 2024, Oregon Mule Deer Southeast Stopovers: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9SS9GD9.
Metadata Contact
Metadata Date 2024-04-10
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Citations of these data No citations of these data are known at this time.
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License http://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/
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Harvest Source: ScienceBase
Harvest Date: 2024-07-29T04:01:24.000Z