Migration Stopovers of Mule Deer in the Rosa Herd in New Mexico

The Rosa mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) migrate an average of 45 miles from northwest New Mexico to southwest Colorado. Their winter range is located in the upper San Juan Basin, east of the Navajo Reservoir, and is dominated by pinyon juniper woodlands and sagebrush grasslands. The Rosa herd utilize three distinct areas as summer range: the lower elevation Valle Seco, consisting primarily of ponderosa pine woodland and big sagebrush shrubland, and the higher elevation North and South San Juan Mountains, consisting of ponderosa pine and aspen-mixed woodlands. The herd collectively migrate northeast from their winter range for around 12 miles before a second route branches off the main corridor, with these individuals travelling to summer ranges in the Valle Seco and South San Juan Mountains. The main corridor continues for another 7 miles before splitting into three separate corridors that lead into the North and South San Juan Mountains. Challenges to migration include crossing US Highways 160 and 84 and increasing residential development around the town of Pagosa Springs. Ongoing and future energy development projects, including the drilling of well pads and use of maintenance roads, in the upper San Juan Basin may also cause disturbances to mule deer migration and their winter range. These data provide the location of migration stopovers for Mule Deer from the Rosa Herd in New Mexico. They were developed from Brownian bridge movement models using 402 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 68 adult mule deer comprising GPS locations collected every 2 hours.

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  "geospatial"
]