Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

Try the next-generation Data Catalog at catalog-beta.data.gov and help shape it with your feedback.

Oregon Mule Deer Mid-Columbia Migration Corridors

Metadata Updated: January 7, 2026

The Mid-Columbia mule deer herd inhabits a highly variable landscape, featuring annual precipitation ranging from 112 inches (in; 285 cm) near Red Hill in the western part of this herd range to 14 in (36 cm) near The Dalles, Oregon, in the eastern part (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2021). Mule deer wintering in the east usually occupy altered grassland and agricultural habitats interspersed with patches of basin big sagebrush, nonnative annual grasses, and both native and planted grassland (Conservation Reserve Program fields). Most of these mule deer are nonmigratory and reside year round near Fifteenmile Creek, Eightmile Creek, and Deschutes River. The mule deer that do migrate travel south to similar types of vegetation near Summit Ridge. Habitats to the west, however, contain more forested cover and winter ranges primarily feature a combination of grasslands, Purshia tridentata (antelope bitterbrush), oak, ponderosa pine, and mixed-conifer forest. Mule deer in the western region are more migratory, containing individuals that travel west to the foothills of Fir Mountain, Lookout Mountain, and Mount Hood in spring. Summer ranges are dominated by mixed-conifer forests featuring pacific silver fir, mountain hemlock, T. heterophylla (western hemlock), and Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir). Pastures and farmland are prevalent in the east where dryland wheat, alfalfa hay, and cherries are economically important crops. Black-tailed deer co-occur with mule deer west of U.S. Highway 197 and the two can hybridize in this area. Along with frequent smaller wildfires, in 2018, the South Valley Road fire burned 20,026 acres (8,104 ha) of winter habitat near U.S. Highway 197, and the Substation and the Long Hollow fires scorched a combined 111,881 acres (45,277 ha) along the northern portion of the Deschutes River (BLM, 2023a). The 2020 White River fire and 2022 Miller Road fire also respectively burned 17,405 acres (7,044 ha) and 10,847 acres (4,390 ha) of seasonal range and migration corridor habitat outside of Pine Grove, Oregon. Depending on location, these large fires can have positive or negative impacts on the Mid-Columbia mule deer herd. In the east, fires reduce shelter and allow invasive grasses to proliferate in habitats lacking perennial plant cover, but in the west, they can beneficially open canopy cover in heavily forested areas, exposing the understory to sunlight and invigorating valuable forage species. These mapping layers show the location of the migration corridors for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Mid-Columbia population in Oregon. They were developed from 98 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 37 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.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date January 7, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 7, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date January 7, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 7, 2026
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_679177edd34ea6a4002bfade
Data Last Modified 2025-02-06T00:00:00Z
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://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-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 df524890-280b-41aa-8806-912ae5b78fb8
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -121.6114, 45.0686, -120.9489, 45.7207
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 18b5057d18132a578a517d195e83b0e418e2c9bdd535b84b22dfb2f80f3503f5
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -121.6114, 45.0686, -121.6114, 45.7207, -120.9489, 45.7207, -120.9489, 45.0686, -121.6114, 45.0686}

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.