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California Mule Deer Pacific Migration Routes

Metadata Updated: February 22, 2025

The Pacific mule deer herd inhabits 353 square miles (mi2; 914 square kilometers [km2]) of public and private lands in Placer and El Dorado counties in California, including the Eldorado National Forest as well as private lands owned by Sierra Pacific Industry and Sacramento Municipal Utility District. During fall migration, Pacific mule deer move approximately 19 mi (30 km) to the foothills of the western Sierra Nevada Mountains, using stopovers in route to their summer range (figure XXX). U.S. Highway 50 and the Middle Fork American River bound the herd’s migration routes on the south and north, respectively. During winter, the migratory portion of the population intersperses with resident deer at lower elevations (2,296–2,953 ft [700–900 m]). The Pacific mule deer herd has been declining for decades because of several factors, including predation, recreation, poaching, disease, and fire suppression. Recent studies indicate a below-average adult survival rate of 77 percent for this herd (Merrell and others, 2023). In 2014, the King fire, a severe wildfire, burned 151 mi2 (390 km²) across much of the mid-elevational area between September and October. Plant succession following the fire modified the way mule deer use the area; does now remain in these recently-burned areas during winter months (Merrell and others, 2023). These mapping layers show the ___location of the migration routes for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Pacific population in California. They were developed from 149 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 43 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 1-13 hours.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date February 22, 2025
Metadata Updated Date February 22, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date February 22, 2025
Metadata Updated Date February 22, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
@Id http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/4595b3b00bdf15d14a2db975a5c4328e
Identifier USGS:6791751cd34ea6a4002bfa97
Data Last Modified 20250206
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id a85c8e0b-6161-4f01-a45b-0880138c8f62
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -120.7865,38.6801,-120.2998,39.089
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 98637bb11bf1c7ae55ac19a5866d50e9fc1f3f769b6e83a9ca78c83a570b0fd0
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -120.7865, 38.6801, -120.7865, 39.089, -120.2998, 39.089, -120.2998, 38.6801, -120.7865, 38.6801}

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