http://www.laramieboomerang.com/articles/2014/04/26/outdoors/doc535b4c6c3724f392611987.txt
Group documents new mule deer migration corridor
| A mule deer buck travels south near Boulder Lake in Sublette County along a newly discovered deer migration corridor. The Wyoming Migration Initiative recently released an assessment of risks along the route. Photo courtesy of Joe Riis |
When biologist Hall Sawyer set out to track the movements of a herd of mule deer that winter in the Red Desert near Rock Springs, he figured the project was pretty straight-forward.
Working for environmental consulting company Western Ecosystems Technology in the winter of 2011 on a study funded by the Bureau of Land Management, Sawyer equipped 40 mule deer with GPS collars designed to drop off in two years.
A few months later, as spring arrived, Sawyer returned to the Red Desert to look for the deer.
“We thought they resided here,” he said.
He was wrong.
“We were in for a big surprise,” he said. “The surprise was the deer weren’t there.”
Researchers eventually found the deer more than 100 miles north. They had left the low-elevation desert — where they spent the winter — for high-elevation summer range on mountains surrounding the Hoback Basin near Yellowstone National Park.
It’s the second-longest land migration in North America.the longest mule deer migration ever recorded
“This incredible migration story was revealed to us,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer discussed the migration during a presentation Tuesday evening at the University of Wyoming.
As the mule deer gain more than 3,000 feet in elevation in their yearly journey from the plains to the mountains, the group grows to almost 5,000 animals. They pass through sand dunes and cross lakes and rivers. They also cross highways and more than 100 fences as they move through public and private land.
“A migration like this could take hundreds or even thousands of years to shape,” Sawyer said. “It leads them to a place to maximize their fitness and reproduction.”
As spring breaks across Wyoming, pronghorn, moose, elk and mule deer start to move. According to Matthew Kauffman, who directs the Wyoming Migration Initiative, more than 90 percent of ungulates migrate. In the spring, they move from low elevations to high, following the new growth of grasses and forbs.
“This is one of the things that makes Wyoming one of the truly wild places left in the West,” said.
Kauffman also heads the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and is an associate professor at the University of Wyoming. He founded the Wyoming Migration Initiative together with Bill Rudd, a retired biologist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
The goal of the initiative is to connect the latest migration science with decision-makers and the public. The migratory paths followed by big-game herds are usually the same paths they’ve followed for generations. When animals encounter man-made obstacles, they either detour around or hurry through, sometimes losing foraging opportunities along the way, Kauffman said.
The Migration Initiative conducted an assessment of the Red Desert-to-Hoback mule deer migration. Scientists identified the top risks, such as road crossings, fences and bottlenecks. They hope that identifying potential problems will help land managers, landowners and other agencies better direct their conservation efforts.
Already, the Wyoming Department of Transportation has plans to modify fencing and install gates along a highway this summer, he said.
If we want to continue to enjoy the deer herds that we have today, we need to protect these migration routes,” Sawyer said.
While conducting the assessment, the Migration Initiative enlisted National Geographic photographer Joe Riis to document the movement of the herds. Riis, a recent UW graduate, earned a reputation for wildlife photography while following a pronghorn migration several years ago.
Riis began working on the project in the summer of 2012 and captured his best shots the following summer and fall.
He uses motion-triggered camera traps for many shots, which requires predicting where the deer will be and anticipating their movements.
He also made a short video that includes footage of a herd crossing a stream.
“It’s a dream for me to get a shot like that,” Riis said.
Photos of the migration are included in the assessment, which is available on the Wyoming Migration Initiative website.
A video is also available for viewing. A photo exhibit will travel the state this year and next year as part of further outreach efforts.
For more information, go to www.migrationiniatiative.org.
Working for environmental consulting company Western Ecosystems Technology in the winter of 2011 on a study funded by the Bureau of Land Management, Sawyer equipped 40 mule deer with GPS collars designed to drop off in two years.
A few months later, as spring arrived, Sawyer returned to the Red Desert to look for the deer.
“We thought they resided here,” he said.
He was wrong.
“We were in for a big surprise,” he said. “The surprise was the deer weren’t there.”
Researchers eventually found the deer more than 100 miles north. They had left the low-elevation desert — where they spent the winter — for high-elevation summer range on mountains surrounding the Hoback Basin near Yellowstone National Park.
It’s the second-longest land migration in North America.the longest mule deer migration ever recorded
“This incredible migration story was revealed to us,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer discussed the migration during a presentation Tuesday evening at the University of Wyoming.
As the mule deer gain more than 3,000 feet in elevation in their yearly journey from the plains to the mountains, the group grows to almost 5,000 animals. They pass through sand dunes and cross lakes and rivers. They also cross highways and more than 100 fences as they move through public and private land.
“A migration like this could take hundreds or even thousands of years to shape,” Sawyer said. “It leads them to a place to maximize their fitness and reproduction.”
As spring breaks across Wyoming, pronghorn, moose, elk and mule deer start to move. According to Matthew Kauffman, who directs the Wyoming Migration Initiative, more than 90 percent of ungulates migrate. In the spring, they move from low elevations to high, following the new growth of grasses and forbs.
“This is one of the things that makes Wyoming one of the truly wild places left in the West,” said.
Kauffman also heads the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and is an associate professor at the University of Wyoming. He founded the Wyoming Migration Initiative together with Bill Rudd, a retired biologist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
The goal of the initiative is to connect the latest migration science with decision-makers and the public. The migratory paths followed by big-game herds are usually the same paths they’ve followed for generations. When animals encounter man-made obstacles, they either detour around or hurry through, sometimes losing foraging opportunities along the way, Kauffman said.
The Migration Initiative conducted an assessment of the Red Desert-to-Hoback mule deer migration. Scientists identified the top risks, such as road crossings, fences and bottlenecks. They hope that identifying potential problems will help land managers, landowners and other agencies better direct their conservation efforts.
Already, the Wyoming Department of Transportation has plans to modify fencing and install gates along a highway this summer, he said.
If we want to continue to enjoy the deer herds that we have today, we need to protect these migration routes,” Sawyer said.
While conducting the assessment, the Migration Initiative enlisted National Geographic photographer Joe Riis to document the movement of the herds. Riis, a recent UW graduate, earned a reputation for wildlife photography while following a pronghorn migration several years ago.
Riis began working on the project in the summer of 2012 and captured his best shots the following summer and fall.
He uses motion-triggered camera traps for many shots, which requires predicting where the deer will be and anticipating their movements.
He also made a short video that includes footage of a herd crossing a stream.
“It’s a dream for me to get a shot like that,” Riis said.
Photos of the migration are included in the assessment, which is available on the Wyoming Migration Initiative website.
A video is also available for viewing. A photo exhibit will travel the state this year and next year as part of further outreach efforts.
For more information, go to www.migrationiniatiative.org.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment