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Spatial Extent of Data

ISO 19115 Topic Category

California Mule Deer Casa Diablo Migration Routes

Casa Diablo mule deer are largely traditional migrants, using a wide range primarily spread across public lands. The herd’s winter range stretches between the Benton Range and eastern Inyo National Forest. Snowfall can be extreme in the Sierra Nevada Range, exceeding 800 inches (in; 20.3 m) in heavy-snow winters, during which deer migrate below 6,000 ft (1,829 m) in elevation to escape deep snow. In spring, individuals move west using a wide range of routes; however, a concentrated migration corridor passes through Long Valley, across U.S. Highway 395, and into the high mountains of the Sierra Nevada Range (fig. XXX). Summer range habitat straddles both sides of U.S. Highway 395. Most deer do not move into Yosemite National Park during the summer, remaining east and south of the Park boundary. Deer typically summer at elevations of 8,000 – 11,000 feet. The primary causes of mortality include mountain lion predation, followed by vehicle collisions, which mostly occur on U.S. Highway 395 during fall and spring migrations. In 2019, the population size of the Casa Diablo herd was estimated at 2,460 (confidence interval: 2,037–3,107) individuals. These mapping layers show the location of the migration routes for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Casa Diablo population in California. They were developed from 445 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 101 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 1-24 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 2014
Ending Date of Data 2023
Data Contact
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, California Mule Deer Casa Diablo Migration Routes: 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