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Washington Mule Deer Klickitat Winter Range

Metadata Updated: November 20, 2025

The Klickitat mule deer herd inhabits the Columbia Hills and surrounding terrain to the north along the Columbia River, Washington (fig. 23). The Klickitat River is the western boundary of the herd and is part of a transition zone between black-tailed deer and mule deer distributions. Habitats in the western half of the herd’s range include Quercus garryana (Oregon white oak) mixed with Abies spp. (fir), pine, or grassland species. The western half of the herd’s range comprises a mix of public and private lands, including rangeland, farmland, and the Klickitat Wildlife Area, which has protected crucial winter range since the 1950s. Sagebrush steppe is more prevalent in the eastern half of the herd’s range with Quercus garryana Douglas ex Hook. (Oregon white oak) and ponderosa pine in drainages such as Rock Creek, which serves as a popular wintering area. Dryland wheat, rangeland, and viticulture are also common in the eastern half, which is mostly privately owned. Klickitat mule deer are partially migratory with more residents in the eastern half of the herd’s range and a higher proportion of migrants in the western half of the herd’s range. As vegetation green up progresses during spring, migrants travel from low-elevation winter ranges to high-elevation summer ranges in the Cascade Range and Simcoe Mountains. Some individuals migrate short distances (5 mi [8 km]), especially mule deer in the eastern half of the herd’s range. Increasing residential development in the western half of the range and renewable energy development and conversion to viticulture in the eastern half of the range are the greatest concerns for winter ranges and migration corridors. Additionally, U.S. Highway 97 is a semipermeable barrier to migration with only one wildlife underpass, built in 2012. These mapping layers show the location of the winter ranges for mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Klickitat population in Washington. They were developed from 76 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 76 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 4 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 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 20, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 20, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-6584b613d34eff134d42da39
Data Last Modified 2024-04-10T00:00:00Z
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 8f499ef0-9e41-4c10-a0e0-fb4cd8b457f5
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash d4b097b86811b9fb7d1522a43fa2832da8ea35fdffbf5250e9229465cdbe1a95
Source Schema Version 1.1

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