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Wyoming Wind River Reservation Elk Wind River Routes

Metadata Updated: January 22, 2026

The eastern slope of the Wind River Range provides habitat to approximately 4,000–5,000 migratory elk. The Wind River Elk herd winters on the Wind River Reservation managed under the sovereignty of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and the Northern Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming (fig. 37). In spring, the herd migrates up in elevation to a roadless area established by the Tribes in the late 1930s—decades before The Wilderness Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-577, 16 U.S.C. 1131-1136) —or to adjacent FS lands. Many of the migration routes are along waterways with significant cultural heritage, including petroglyphs in the Dinwoody-style and areas connected to stories of sacred figures and occurrences (Wind River Visitors Council, 2022). Elk are a prominent part of ongoing Tribal cultural and language revitalization efforts. Collared elk migrate through areas on Arrow Mountain and cross historical hunting pits and drive lines used by Native peoples thousands of years ago and still exist today. The herd is actively hunted by Tribal members per a harvest regulation code (Nickerson, 2019; Public Law 86-634m 86th Congress, H.R. 4386). The terrain ranges from 6,000 ft (1,829 m) to 12,000 ft (3,658 m), but most elk summer at elevations below 11,000 ft (3,353 m). Foothill habitats include grass and sage, whereas the rocky Wind River Range contains alpine, lodgepole pine forests, mixed grass-conifer basins and ridges, and Salix spp. (willow)-lined creeks. The foothills have minimal development, except for irrigation infrastructure at Bull Lake and Washakie Reservoir and fenced ranches near Crowheart. Elk routinely winter in the remote foothills of the Wind River Range and near the more developed areas of Boulder Flats, Fort Washakie, and Lander. However, near Crowheart Butte and Bighorn Flat, groups of elk sometimes cross U.S. Highways 26 and 287 to the north or east, putting them at risk for wildlife-vehicle mortality. These mapping layers show the location of the migration routes for Elk (Cervus canadensis) in the Wind River population in the Wind River Reservation. They were developed from 140 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 30 animals comprising GPS locations collected approximately every 1 hour.

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 12, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 22, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date January 12, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 22, 2026
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_6584b473d34eff134d42d9b9
Data Last Modified 2024-04-10T00:00:00Z
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 20260121204831
Harvest Object Id 097e41f1-52a3-4c2c-a7b8-43a1dff8fa45
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -109.6005, 42.7260, -109.6005, 43.4544, -108.7930, 43.4544, -108.7930, 42.7260, -109.6005, 42.7260}
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash e3bea630043426e001d0098d40b72bf5caf50d6374b8febe3aaf4618c4797c2f
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -109.6005, 42.7260, -109.6005, 43.4544, -108.7930, 43.4544, -108.7930, 42.7260, -109.6005, 42.7260}

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