Each spring, a herd of mule deer leaves the Red Desert and follows a trail of greening grass and retreating snow along the western slope of the Wind River Range. Months later, the animals arrive in the Hoback Basin south of Jackson, more than 150 miles away.
It is the farthest recorded mule deer migration in the world, and an ancient rite vital to the long-term survival of Wyoming's iconic mule deer populations.
And its future is uncertain.
The journey from desert to mountains takes the herd over fences and across roads, near subdivisions and through narrow passageways flanked by towns and lakes. There are no National Parks or wilderness areas to offer refuge. The deer contend with the elements and whatever obstacles people put in their way.
Scientist believe the migration has lasted this long because large swaths of land between the deer's summer and winter ranges have remained undeveloped.
In many ways the migration, like bison roaming the plains, is a symbol of the old West. It is a possibility only states like Wyoming can still offer, and one that may not always remain. Researchers didn't even know the migration existed until two years ago.
The
Bureau of Land Management had contacted Sawyer to find out where a
group of deer living in the Red Desert call their winter and summer
ranges...more
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
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