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Oregon Mule Deer Steens Mountain Migration Corridors

Metadata Updated: February 21, 2025

The Steens Mountain mule deer herd contains an estimated 3,710 individuals (ODFW 2023). Most GPS-collared mule deer are either nonmigratory or use an elevational migration route along the Steens Mountain fault block. Winter ranges for the Steens Mountain mule deer herd surround Steens Mountain at lower elevations. These winter range habitats are diverse, primarily consisting of sagebrush and early shrub-tree habitat with encroaching western juniper and previously burned, native, and invasive annual grasslands. Migratory mule deer summer at higher elevations on Steens Mountain in habitats featuring quaking aspen, mountain big sagebrush, mountain shrub, early shrub-tree, western juniper, and post-fire native grassland communities. Mule deer can compete with feral horses during drought years because seasonal ranges and migration corridors overlap four HMAs. The combined Kiger, Riddle Mountain, and Sheepshead-Heath Creek HMAs encompass more than 265,000 acres (107,000 ha) and respectively contain 183 horses, 165 horses, and 224 horses in comparison to the maximum AMLs of 82 horses, 56 horses, and 302 horses (BLM, 2023b). To the south, the 280,715-acre (113,601-ha) South Steens HMA contains 606 horses, nearly double the maximum AML of 304 feral horses. To help improve mule deer populations, the Steens Mountain WMU, which incorporates most of the Steens Mountain mule deer herd, was included in the 2015 Mule Deer Initiative (ODFW, 2020). Since 2015, ODFW, BLM, and NRCS SGI have removed 4,897 acres (1,982 ha) of western juniper and reseeded 35,121 acres (14,213 ha) for native shrubs and grasses along with completing other habitat enhancement projects. The 170,200-acre (68,877-ha) Steens Mountain Wilderness in the central and eastern portion of the herd’s range is also closed to motorized vehicles and cattle grazing throughout the year. These mapping layers show the ___location of the migration corridors for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Steens Mountain population in Oregon. They were developed from 30 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 7 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 5-13 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 21, 2025
Metadata Updated Date February 21, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date February 21, 2025
Metadata Updated Date February 21, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
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Identifier USGS:679179bed34ea6a4002bfaef
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 40295b1e-040e-4457-8aad-5a9d5f8fd823
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -118.8687,42.4223,-118.2912,43.1616
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash c6bfb29be5a13bea7b0e1c955b5a51bc6b9c2f947aad9d8fd998f5413a0c9c06
Source Schema Version 1.1
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