Oregon Mule Deer Keno Winter Ranges

The Keno mule deer herd primarily winters between Oregon Route 66 and the Oregon-California border along the slopes of the Cascade Range, but smaller wintering grounds also lie at lower elevations west of Klamath Falls, Oregon . Winter ranges are characterized primarily by oak woodland with mixed-conifer, ponderosa pine, and early shrub-tree forests at higher elevations. In spring, mule deer migrate north across Oregon Route 66 to forested summer ranges higher along the eastern slope of the Cascade Range. One GPS-collared mule deer traveled south to summer near Snag Hill, almost 46 mi (73 km) into California. In 2014, the Oregon Gulch fire burned 35,302 acres (14,286 ha) of forested winter habitat (BLM, 2023a), including critical seasonal ranges near Grizzly Mountain. The fire reduced tree cover, prompting the growth of more palatable early-seral forbs and shrubs. In addition, a largely residential population of O. hemionus columbianus (black-tailed deer) inhabits the Keno region. Although typically preferring habitats not frequented by mule deer, black-tailed deer can hybridize with mule deer where ranges overlap. Keno mule deer also experience extended periods of severe drought during which they can compete for resources with elk and feral horses in summer where the Pokegama HMA intersects the summer ranges of resident mule deer. The Pokegama HMA contains approximately 295 feral horses, surpassing the maximum AML of 50 horses (BLM, 2023b). These mapping layers show the location of the winter ranges for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Keno population in Oregon. They were developed from 53 winter sequences collected from a sample size of 19 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 13-26 hours.

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  "geospatial"
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