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Wyoming Pronghorn Baggs Migration Routes

Metadata Updated: January 22, 2026

The Baggs pronghorn herd inhabits south-central Wyoming, to the southwest of Rawlins, Wyoming, bounded by Interstate 80 to the north and the Wyoming–Colorado border to the south (fig. 32). This herd unit includes the Atlantic Rim and the eastern part of the Red Desert Basin, which is an arid to semiarid Wyoming big sagebrush-steppe habitat marked by severe winters. Although the landscape is generally remote, human development, including oil and natural gas infrastructure and cattle and sheep ranching, affects the habitat the herd uses. Therefore, a GPS-collaring study (2013–16) was initiated to evaluate the effects of human-caused and environmental change on pronghorn in the Red Desert Basin (Reinking and others, 2018, 2019). Pronghorn in this herd are semimigratory to nomadic and migrate around the Sierra Madre. In general, pronghorn winter to the west of the Sierra Madre range and near Wyoming Highway 789, and spring migrations expand to the southeast, the east, or the north. However, migration routes are not always consistent, and pronghorn can backtrack across their migration route or remain on winter range year round. Some individuals in this herd seasonally overlap with the Elk Mountain herd (refer to the “Elk Mountain Pronghorn” section in this report). Property boundary or legacy livestock ranching fences remain prevalent in the area, restrict pronghorn movement, and pose a direct mortality risk. Interstate 80, the biggest barrier that Baggs pronghorn encounter, is rarely crossed by pronghorn because the interstate has a high traffic volume, net-wired right-of-way fencing, and part of the Union Pacific Railroad parallels the interstate. Wyoming Highway 789, which runs to the north and to the south and divides this herd, is another barrier. However, pronghorn can cross Wyoming Highway 789 more easily than Interstate 80 (Robb and others, 2022). Beginning in 2009, a series of underpasses were constructed on Wyoming Highway 789, to the north of Baggs, Wyoming, but they are used mostly by mule deer. Baggs pronghorn also share habitat and compete for resources with feral horses in the Adobe Town HMA and potentially the Salt Wells Creek HMA, to the west of Wyoming Highway 789 in the southern Red Desert Basin (Hennig, 2021; Hennig and others, 2021, 2022, 2024). Furthermore, feral horses, pronghorn, and cattle have a high degree of overlap at water sources in the Red Desert Basin (Hennig and others, 2021). These mapping layers show the location of the migration routes for pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) in the Baggs population in Wyoming. They were developed from 90 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 32 animals comprising GPS locations collected every ~2 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 11, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 22, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date January 11, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 22, 2026
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_679277bfd34e88f5864c49ad
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
Datagov Dedupe Retained 20260122035920
Harvest Object Id b486fda0-9c53-400e-9490-05fd805907db
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -108.1601, 40.9294, -108.1601, 41.8134, -106.9618, 41.8134, -106.9618, 40.9294, -108.1601, 40.9294}
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash bc065687021c73331e9f28c23f14d2fa66349d2f2152e149a1a04443df9a768d
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -108.1601, 40.9294, -108.1601, 41.8134, -106.9618, 41.8134, -106.9618, 40.9294, -108.1601, 40.9294}

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