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Arizona Elk State Route 260 Winter Ranges

The State Route 260 elk herd resides east of Payson, Arizona, along State Route 260 in Game Management Units 3C, 4A, 4B, 5A, 22, and 23. The herd winters in a concentrated range around State Route 260 near Kohls Ranch, south of Diamond Rim, and extending to Christopher Mountain and Bearhide Canyon. Most elk summer on the Mogollon Rim (hereafter, Rim), a rugged escarpment at the southern tip of the Colorado Plateau, and descend from the Rim in two primary locations, Sharp Creek and Al Fulton Point, to reach the winter range. Other individuals summer below the Rim, but as winter approaches, they migrate south to the winter range. In 2021, the Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) on State Route 260 near the herd’s winter range was 6,557 vehicles. Previous studies suggest that when the AADT exceeds 10,000–15,000 vehicles, elk rarely attempt to cross highways unless a designated crossing, such as an underpass, has been established. As development in Arizona continues to expand, it will become increasingly important to effectively manage traffic and accommodate wildlife crossings along State Route 260. These mapping layers show the location of the winter ranges for elk (Cervus canadensis) in the SR260 population in Arizona. They were developed from 60 sequences collected from a sample size of 41 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 1-4 hours.

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Author(s) Matthew J Kauffman orcid, Blake H Lowrey orcid, Jennifer L McKee orcid, Travis Allen, Chloe Beaupre orcid, Jeffrey Beck orcid, Scott Bergen, Justin Binfet, Shelly Blair, James W Cain orcid, Peyton Carl, Todd Cornish orcid, Michelle Cowardin, Rachel Curtis, Melia DeVivo, Jennifer Diamond, Katie Dugger orcid, Orrin Duvuvuei, C.J. Ellingwood, Darby Finley, Jessica Fort, Eric Freeman, Ian Freeman, Jeff Gagnon, Emily Gelzer orcid, Jacob Gray, Evan Greenspan orcid, Curtis Hendricks, Valerie Hinojoza-Rood, Matt Jeffress, Carolyn Kyle, Zack Lockyer, Cody McKee, Jerod Merkle orcid, Jerrod Merrell, Matt Mumma, Jake Powell, Craig Reddell, Adele Reinking orcid, Robert Ritson, Sierra Robatcek, Benjamin Robb orcid, Brianna Russo orcid, Hall Sawyer orcid, Cody Schroeder, Elissa Slezak, Scott Sprague, Erik Steiner orcid, Alethea Steingisser, Tom Stephenson, Nicole Tatman, Kaitlyn Taylor, Don Whittaker, Travis Zaffarano
Publication Date 2025-02-06
Beginning Date of Data 2002
Ending Date of Data 2015
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DOI https://doi.org/10.5066/P1YJCCQA
Citation Kauffman, M.J., Lowrey, B.H., McKee, J.L., Allen, T., Beaupre, C., Beck, J., Bergen, S., Binfet, J., Blair, S., Cain, J.W., Carl, P., Cornish, T., Cowardin, M., Curtis, R., DeVivo, M., Diamond, J., Dugger, K., Duvuvuei, O., Ellingwood, C., Finley, D., Fort, J., Freeman, E., Freeman, I., Gagnon, J., Gelzer, E., Gray, J., Greenspan, E., Hendricks, C., Hinojoza-Rood, V., Jeffress, M., Kyle, C., Lockyer, Z., McKee, C., Merkle, J., Merrell, J., Mumma, M., Powell, J., Reddell, C., Reinking, A., Ritson, R., Robatcek, S., Robb, B., Russo, B., Sawyer, H., Schroeder, C., Slezak, E., Sprague, S., Steiner, E., Steingisser, A., Stephenson, T., Tatman, N., Taylor, K., Whittaker, D., and Zaffarano, T., 2025, Arizona Elk State Route 260 Winter Ranges: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P1YJCCQA.
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Metadata Date 2025-02-06
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Harvest Source: ScienceBase
Harvest Date: 2025-02-07T05:07:48.543Z