Washington Mule Deer Wenatchee Mountains Routes

Along the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains in Chelan and Kittitas counties, the Wenatchee Mountains mule deer herd inhabits a matrix of private and public lands. Historically, the Wenatchee Mountains mule deer were separated into two sub-herds, Chelan and Kittitas; however, recent movement data from GPS-collared individuals associated with Secretarial Order 3362 (Department of the Interior, 2018) revealed that the mule deer south of U.S. Highway 2 and north of Interstate 90 represent one population. Their high-use winter range extends along the foothills west and south of Wenatchee, Washington and throughout the foothills of the Kittitas Valley outside Ellensburg, Washington. The low-use winter range occurs along the foothills west of the Columbia River. In the spring, migratory individuals travel west into the Wenatchee Mountains to their summer range, which includes the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. Wenatchee Mountains mule deer are partially migratory; a higher proportion of migratory individuals occupy the northern winter range of the Wenatchee Mountains and non-migratory individuals more commonly inhabit the foothills of the Kittitas Valley. The increasing frequency of large-scale wildfires and residential development continue to degrade and reduce available winter range. Disturbance from human recreation on the winter range continues to be a concern. Semipermeable barriers to spring and fall migration include U.S. Highway 97 or State Route 970, both of which experience relatively high volumes of traffic in the region. These mapping layers show the location of the migration routes for Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Wenatchee Mountains population in Washington. They were developed from 107 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 38 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 4 hours.

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