Washington Mule Deer Klickitat Stopovers
Description
The Klickitat mule deer herd inhabits the Columbia Hills and surrounding terrain to the north along the Columbia River, Washington (fig. 23). The Klickitat River is the western boundary of the herd and is part of a transition zone between black-tailed deer and mule deer distributions. Habitats in the western half of the herd’s range include Quercus garryana (Oregon white oak) mixed with Abies spp. (fir), pine, or grassland species. The western half of the herd’s range comprises a mix of public and private lands, including rangeland, farmland, and the Klickitat Wildlife Area, which has protected crucial winter range since the 1950s. Sagebrush steppe is more prevalent in the eastern half of the herd’s range with Quercus garryana Douglas ex Hook. (Oregon white oak) and ponderosa pine in drainages such as Rock Creek, which serves as a popular wintering area. Dryland wheat, rangeland, and viticulture are also common in the eastern half, which is mostly privately owned.
Klickitat mule deer are partially migratory with more residents in the eastern half of the herd’s range and a higher proportion of migrants in the western half of the herd’s range. As vegetation green up progresses during spring, migrants travel from low-elevation winter ranges to high-elevation summer ranges in the Cascade Range and Simcoe Mountains. Some individuals migrate short distances (5 mi [8 km]), especially mule deer in the eastern half of the herd’s range. Increasing residential development in the western half of the range and renewable energy development and conversion to viticulture in the eastern half of the range are the greatest concerns for winter ranges and migration corridors. Additionally, U.S. Highway 97 is a semipermeable barrier to migration with only one wildlife underpass, built in 2012.
These mapping layers show the location of the Migration stopovers for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Klickitat population in Washington. They were developed from 78 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 103 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 4 hours.
Resources
| Name |
Format |
Description |
Link |
|
55 |
Landing page for access to the data |
https://doi.org/10.5066/P9SS9GD9 |
|
55 |
The metadata original format |
https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/metadata/USGS.6584b60ad34eff134d42da37.xml |
Tags
- goldendale
- migration-organisms
- animal-behavior
- biota
- united-states
- migratory-species
- washington
- usgs-6584b60ad34eff134d42da37