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Pat Hnilicka

Mule deer within the Dubois herd make several long-distance migrations into the heart of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (fig. 26). These migrations originate from winter range in the warm, protected sagebrush valley surrounding Dubois, Wyoming, and extend to the southeast on the Wind River Reservation. Each spring, an estimated 6,000–7,000 deer leave this valley and the Reservation and migrate northwest. These journeys, averaging 44 mi one way, begin as deer ascend Togwotee Pass (9,658 ft [m 2,944] in elevation). From there, they cross challenging natural terrain with high mountain passes and disperse into the north Wind River Range, Gros Ventre Range, Absaroka Range, Grand Teton National Park, and deep into...
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Wind River Tribal Engagement/Mule Deer Migration
The Wind River Reservation in Wyoming contains over 2 million acres of the best and most diverse and intact habitats in the contiguous US. It is home to the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes. In collaboration with Tribal Fish and Game, the USFWS Lander Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office and the USGS Wyoming Cooperative Research Unit, partners have been conducting an investigation of the migration patterns of 113 GPS-collared mule deer that began in 2018. As part of our SA diversity and inclusion efforts with a $60,500 investment, this project will extend the ongoing work and engage various segments of the tribal community in the research as a means to further understanding of fish and wildlife management...
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The Owl Creek elk herd, with 7,500–8,500 wintering elk, inhabits the northwest corner of the Wind River Reservation, traversing habitats along the Absaroka Range and the Owl Creek Mountains (fig. 36). The herd contains resident and migratory elk; migrants travel an average 10.7 mi (17.2 km) one way. Elevations range from 6,000 ft (1,829 m) at Wind River near Crowheart to 12,200 ft (3,700 m) in the Absaroka Range, and summits in the Owl Creek Mountains reach 8,000–9,800 ft (2,438–2,987 m). Habitats range from sage and desert scrub in the lowlands surrounding the Wind River Range to upland meadows, aspen groves, Pinus contorta (lodgepole pine) forests, and alpine tundra. When on the Wind River Reservation, the elk...
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The eastern slope of the Wind River Range provides habitat to approximately 4,000–5,000 migratory elk. The Wind River Elk herd winters on the Wind River Reservation managed under the sovereignty of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and the Northern Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming (fig. 37). In spring, the herd migrates up in elevation to a roadless area established by the Tribes in the late 1930s—decades before The Wilderness Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-577, 16 U.S.C. 1131-1136) —or to adjacent FS lands. Many of the migration routes are along waterways with significant cultural heritage, including petroglyphs in the Dinwoody-style and areas connected to stories of sacred figures and occurrences (Wind...
Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States, Volume 2
This is the data archive for the publication Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States, Volume 2 (Kauffman et al. 2022) and includes the collection of GIS map files that are mapped and described in the report. These map files are meant to provide a common spatial representation of the mapped migrations. This data release provides the means for ungulate migrations to be mapped and planned for across a wide variety of landscapes where they occur. Due to data sharing constraints of participating agencies, not all the files that underlie the mapped migrations included in the report have been released. Data can be viewed at: https://westernmigrations.net. Data in this archive can be downloaded two ways. To download...
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