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Oregon Mule Deer Steens Mountain Winter Ranges

Metadata Updated: October 2, 2025

The Steens Mountain mule deer herd contains an estimated 3,710 individuals (ODFW 2023). Most GPS-collared mule deer are either nonmigratory or use an elevational migration route along the Steens Mountain fault block. Winter ranges for the Steens Mountain mule deer herd surround Steens Mountain at lower elevations. These winter range habitats are diverse, primarily consisting of sagebrush and early shrub-tree habitat with encroaching western juniper and previously burned, native, and invasive annual grasslands. Migratory mule deer summer at higher elevations on Steens Mountain in habitats featuring quaking aspen, mountain big sagebrush, mountain shrub, early shrub-tree, western juniper, and post-fire native grassland communities. Mule deer can compete with feral horses during drought years because seasonal ranges and migration corridors overlap four HMAs. The combined Kiger, Riddle Mountain, and Sheepshead-Heath Creek HMAs encompass more than 265,000 acres (107,000 ha) and respectively contain 183 horses, 165 horses, and 224 horses in comparison to the maximum AMLs of 82 horses, 56 horses, and 302 horses (BLM, 2023b). To the south, the 280,715-acre (113,601-ha) South Steens HMA contains 606 horses, nearly double the maximum AML of 304 feral horses. To help improve mule deer populations, the Steens Mountain WMU, which incorporates most of the Steens Mountain mule deer herd, was included in the 2015 Mule Deer Initiative (ODFW, 2020). Since 2015, ODFW, BLM, and NRCS SGI have removed 4,897 acres (1,982 ha) of western juniper and reseeded 35,121 acres (14,213 ha) for native shrubs and grasses along with completing other habitat enhancement projects. The 170,200-acre (68,877-ha) Steens Mountain Wilderness in the central and eastern portion of the herd’s range is also closed to motorized vehicles and cattle grazing throughout the year. These mapping layers show the location of the winter ranges for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Steens Mountain population in Oregon. They were developed from 56 winter sequences collected from a sample size of 19 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 5-13 hours.

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 September 14, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 2, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 14, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 2, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-679179ddd34ea6a4002bfaf4
Data Last Modified 2025-02-06T00:00:00Z
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
Harvest Object Id c378a153-554b-4dbe-98d9-dd8c3b0813e6
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -118.8543, 42.3537, -118.3114, 43.3560
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash b99acc534608efdc7d6316e9a1b9fd67ce8bf6c72ecc4913d9779973dae128a6
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -118.8543, 42.3537, -118.8543, 43.3560, -118.3114, 43.3560, -118.3114, 42.3537, -118.8543, 42.3537}

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