A brand new set of maps that doc the actions of ungulates was printed as we speak within the fourth quantity of the Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States. The maps on this collaborative U.S. Geological Survey report sequence reveal the migration routes and important ranges utilized by ungulates, or hooved mammals, within the western U.S., furthering scientists’ understanding of the geography of massive sport migrations.
The brand new quantity, “Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States: Quantity 4,” paperwork 33 mule deer, pronghorn and elk herd migrations in collaboration with the wildlife companies of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, Wind River Reservation, Wyoming and, for the primary time, the states of Oregon and Colorado and the Pueblo of Tesuque in New Mexico. With this newest quantity, the report sequence consists of particulars and maps of the migrations and seasonal ranges for a complete of 182 uniqueherds throughout 10 states.
“We have now mapped practically 2 hundred migrations of mule deer, pronghorn, elk and different ungulates throughout numerous landscapes, from the excessive alpine Rocky Mountains to the temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest and the desert ecosystems of the American Southwest,” mentioned Matt Kauffman, the report’s lead writer and a wildlife biologist with the USGS Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Analysis Unit on the College of Wyoming. “I am impressed with how the crew has labored collectively to undertake a regular set of strategies to create sturdy migration maps of those ungulates throughout the West.”
Ungulates migrate all through the American West every spring and fall to entry probably the most nutritious crops and keep away from deep snow. However because the human footprint within the West expands, these species more and more face obstacles corresponding to new subdivisions, vitality improvement, impermeable fences and high-traffic roads on their lengthy journeys. By mapping their migrations, scientists present vital data — like the place migrations overlap with present and potential obstacles — to managers, policymakers, NGOs and personal landowners working to reduce impacts on wildlife.
“To finest preserve and defend the habitat utilized by migrating elk, mule deer, moose and pronghorn, we now have to know precisely the place these species transfer throughout the panorama,” mentioned Blake Henning, chief conservation officer on the Rocky Mountain Elk Basis. “That is why this mapping work is so necessary — it is to make sure their future well being and well-being. We assist and tremendously admire the USGS and collaborating states and Tribes for main this extremely collaborative and globally vital effort.”
The brand new report highlights how migration maps can be utilized for conservation and administration amid altering landscapes. For instance, when photo voltaic farms are inbuilt an ungulate’s vary, they’ll negatively affect habitat and create boundaries to motion for resident and migratory animals. The maps featured within the report sequence have beforehand been used to tell leasing choices for oil and fuel improvement, they usually may also present a key useful resource to assist website future renewable vitality tasks that decrease results to vital habitat.
“By utilizing these migration maps and knowledge, the Arizona Sport and Fish Division was capable of have knowledgeable conversations with landowners and photo voltaic builders about managing for wildlife corridors by means of a deliberate photo voltaic facility,” says Jeff Gagnon, statewide connectivity biologist on the Arizona Sport and Fish Division. “These efforts will hopefully enable ungulates to proceed their seasonal migrations.”
Along with managers from the respective state wildlife companies, co-authors on the fourth quantity embody the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Nationwide Park Service, Bureau of Land Administration, Navajo Nation Division of Fish and Wildlife, Pueblo of Tesuque Division of Setting and Pure Assets, and Shoshone & Arapaho Tribes Fish and Sport, amongst different companions. Maps of every herd had been produced in collaboration with state and Tribal specialists by cartographers from the USGS and the InfoGraphics Lab on the College of Oregon. Because of funding from the USGS and the Rocky Mountain Elk Basis, mapping by companions is ongoing, with a fifth quantity of migration maps at present in preparation.
The Hall Mapping Staff, established in 2018 in response to Division of the Inside Secretary’s Order 3362, is a state-Tribal-federal partnership working to map ungulate migration corridors with commonplace methods. The primary three volumes within the Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States report sequence had been printed in 2020 and 2022.
