The Y P Desert elk herd comprises part of an Idaho-Nevada metapopulation that primarily uses a winter range in Idaho and a summer range in Nevada. Y P Desert elk follow an east-to-west migration along the South Fork Owyhee River onto the Y P Desert in Idaho and Nevada during the winter (fig. 38). In Nevada, migration routes for many ungulate herds follow mountain ranges from the north to the south. However, the neighboring Southern Owyhee Desert elk herd in Nevada (refer to the “Southern Owyhee Desert Elk” section in this report), which shares some summer range with Y P Desert elk, also follows a similar east-to-west migration. During the summer, the Y P Desert herd primarily inhabits the Bull Run Mountains of the northern Independence Mountains in Nevada. A large part of seasonal habitat and migration routes is within the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, Nevada. Elevations range from 4,307 ft (1,313 m) in South Fork Owyhee River canyon basins of Idaho, to the 9,108-ft (2,776-m) Pennsylvania Hill of the Bull Run Mountains in Nevada. Historically, summer habitats included Great Basin communities, where mixed shrublands consisting of sagebrush and Chrysothamnus spp. (rabbitbrush) dominate lower elevations and overlap at higher elevations with mountain brush species, such as antelope bitterbrush, western serviceberry, and snowbush. However, much of the upper elevation summer habitat burned in the South Sugarloaf fire in 2018. Slope may be the primary driver of post-fire recovery because many north-facing slopes are naturally returning to mountain brush communities, and south-facing slopes have primarily converted to a mix of native bunchgrasses and invasive annuals. These higher elevation communities also include quaking aspen, mountain-mahogany, fir, and pine, although large areas of the nonriparian forest species have not yet recovered post-fire. Like many ungulate winter ranges in western Elko County, wildfires also affect the Y P Desert, where cheatgrass, mustard, various Cirsium spp. (thistle) species, and medusahead rye have invaded priority habitat. However, large expanses of sagebrush and native bunch grasses, such as basin wildrye and Idaho fescue, remain on the landscape. Growth for this herd is limited by hunter harvest, which is currently guided by population objectives outlined in the “Western Elko County Elk Management Sub-Plan” (Western Elko County Elk Management Working Group, 2003). These mapping layers show the location of the migration routes for elk (Cervus canadensis) in the Y P Desert population in Idaho and Nevada. They were developed from 59 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 15 animals comprising GPS locations collected every ~ 12.5 hours.