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Oregon Mule Deer Sumpter Migration Corridors

Metadata Updated: January 7, 2026

The Sumpter mule deer herd includes resident and migratory individuals. Mule deer wintering near Oregon Route 244 and La Grande, Oregon, migrate south to Wolf Creek, Glass Hill, and Elkhorn Ridge in spring. Although mixed-conifer forest and ponderosa pine dominate seasonal ranges for these mule deer, winter ranges contain more sagebrush grassland and summer ranges contain more riparian and early shrub-tree habitats. Other mule deer wintering in patches of big sagebrush mixed with conifer, ponderosa pine, western juniper, and quaking aspen forests near North Powder Valley and Powder River also migrate to Elkhorn Ridge for the summer. Some mule deer along Burnt River, where winter ranges are characterized by big sagebrush, western juniper, and grassland, migrate south to areas with more mixed-conifer forest and invasive annual grasses near Monument Rock and Willow Creek in spring. Other mule deer either migrate north or west to Austin, Oregon, and Oregon Route 7, where big sagebrush, mountain big sagebrush, mixed-conifer forest, and ponderosa pine are common. Some of these mule deer travel as far north as Elkhorn Ridge and Wolf Creek. In 2015, the Cornet-Windy fire burned 56,766 acres (22,972 ha) of forested summer range near Oregon Route 245 (BLM, 2023a), improving browse quality but potentially reducing shelter by decreasing canopy cover. Highways are a significant cause of mortality in this area; for example, Interstate 84 had an annual average of 162 DVCs from 2010 to 2022 along a 100-mile (161-km) section (ODOT, 2023). No GPS-collared mule deer successfully crossed Interstate 84 although multiple seasonal ranges and migrations closely bound the highway, indicating a possible loss of historical migration routes. These mapping layers show the location of the migration corridors for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Sumpter population in Oregon. They were developed from 154 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 53 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.

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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_67917a2cd34ea6a4002bfaf6
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 cd0200e4-2eee-4e70-b21d-4a0a0fc54d24
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -118.3111, 44.2467, -117.7811, 45.4595
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash fd546f7e715602c431c59670b89d9ac4f373b51c87cf9474cd412e463388fa25
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -118.3111, 44.2467, -118.3111, 45.4595, -117.7811, 45.4595, -117.7811, 44.2467, -118.3111, 44.2467}

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