Skip to main content

Migration Routes of Elk in South Bighorn Herd in Wyoming

Dates

Publication Date
Start Date
2017-01-01
End Date
2019-12-31

Citation

Kauffman, M.J., Lowrey, B., Beck, J., Berg, J., Bergen, S., Berger, J., Cain, J., Dewey, S., Diamond, J., Duvuvuei, O., Fattebert, J., Gagnon, J., Garcia, J., Greenspan, E., Hall, E., Harper, G., Harter, S., Hersey, K., Hnilicka, P., Hurley, M., Knox, L., Lawson, A., Maichak, E., Meacham, J., Merkle, J., Middleton, A., Olson, D., Olson, L., Reddell, C., Robb, B., Rozman, G., Sawyer, H., Schroeder, C., Scurlock, B., Short, J., Sprague, S., Steingisser, A., and Tatman, N., 2022, Ungulate Migrations of the Western United States, Volume 2: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9TKA3L8.

Summary

Elk (Cervus elpahus canadensis) within the southern section of the Bighorn Mountains display altitudinal migration. In the spring, most individuals migrate from the western foothills up into the mountains, and in the fall, they head back down to lower elevations (fig. 68). In the southern section where the range curves west, the herd migrates up the northern foothills in the spring and back down in the fall. Additionally, a few individuals will summer on the eastern foothills along the Crazy Woman drainage. These individuals migrate west up the slopes in the spring and back down in the fall. The herd, which numbers around 4,000, primarily winters along the western foothills of the southern Bighorn Mountains just east of route 434 (Upper [...]

Contacts

Attached Files

Click on title to download individual files attached to this item.

desktop.ini 244 Bytes text/x-ini
Shapefile: Elk_WY_Bighorn_South_Routes_Ver1_2020.zip
Elk_WY_Bighorn_South_Routes_Ver1_2020.dbf 38.82 KB
Elk_WY_Bighorn_South_Routes_Ver1_2020.prj 423 Bytes
Elk_WY_Bighorn_South_Routes_Ver1_2020.shp 182.06 KB
Elk_WY_Bighorn_South_Routes_Ver1_2020.shx 844 Bytes

Purpose

Migration is widespread across taxonomic groups and increasingly recognized as fundamental to maintaining abundant wildlife populations and communities. Many ungulate herds migrate across the western United States to access food and avoid harsh environmental conditions. With the advent of global positioning system (GPS) collars, researchers can describe and map the year-round movements of ungulates at both large and small spatial scales. The migrations can traverse landscapes that are a mix of different jurisdictional ownership and management. Today, the landscapes that migrating herds traverse are increasingly threatened by fencing, high-traffic roads, oil and gas development, and other types of permanent development. Over the last decade, a model of science-based conservation has emerged in which migration corridors, stopovers, and winter ranges can be mapped in detail, thereby allowing threats and conservation opportunities to be identified and remedied. In 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assembled a Corridor Mapping Team (CMT) to work collaboratively with western states to map migrations of mule deer, elk, and pronghorn. Led by the USGS Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, the team consists of federal scientists, university researchers, and biologists and analysts from participating state and tribal agencies. The first set of maps described a total of 42 migrations across five western states and was published in 2020 as the first volume of this report series. This second volume describes an additional 65 migrations mapped within nine western states and select tribal lands. As the American West continues to grow, this report series and the associated map files released on USGS’s ScienceBase will allow for migration maps to be used for conservation planning by a wide array of state and federal stakeholders to reduce barriers to migration caused by fences, roads, and other development.

Rights

Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.

Map

Spatial Services

ScienceBase WMS

ScienceBase WFS

Communities

  • Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units

Tags

Provenance

Additional Information

Shapefile Extension

boundingBox
minY43.32117575690814
minX-107.84642405102936
maxY44.32745412034496
maxX-106.59713708071935
files
nameElk_WY_Bighorn_South_Routes_Ver1_2020.dbf
contentTypetext/plain
pathOnDisk__disk__12/6e/3b/126e3b5704b3c9d8e0db8c4435421cc52a852aca
imageWidth580
imageHeight435
size39751
dateUploadedThu Feb 17 06:16:35 MST 2022
nameElk_WY_Bighorn_South_Routes_Ver1_2020.prj
contentTypetext/plain
pathOnDisk__disk__6c/0e/76/6c0e769a5ab3b437742dfaaf7960d8a9c870463d
imageWidth580
imageHeight435
size423
dateUploadedThu Feb 17 06:16:35 MST 2022
nameElk_WY_Bighorn_South_Routes_Ver1_2020.shp
contentTypex-gis/x-shapefile
pathOnDisk__disk__f8/4e/ee/f84eee386236865ec27e8b617e82aa36c8990eeb
size186428
dateUploadedThu Feb 17 06:16:35 MST 2022
nameElk_WY_Bighorn_South_Routes_Ver1_2020.shp.xml
contentTypeapplication/fgdc+xml
pathOnDisk__disk__46/4e/64/464e64321093f65be2810901052558760cde24ab
dateUploadedThu Apr 07 10:16:49 MDT 2022
originalMetadatatrue
nameElk_WY_Bighorn_South_Routes_Ver1_2020.shx
contentTypex-gis/x-shapefile
pathOnDisk__disk__2b/1c/01/2b1c01c29604547235ed9f0af4c2e3116ba1ce5b
size844
dateUploadedThu Feb 17 06:16:35 MST 2022
geometryTypeMultiLineString
nameElk_WY_Bighorn_South_Routes_Ver1_2020
nativeCrsEPSG:5070

Item Actions

View Item as ...

Save Item as ...

View Item...