Western Migrations

The Western Migrations web application uses an interactive map to foster exploration of detailed migration routes, stopovers, and winter ranges across the West. Filter the data by species, state, specific herds, or land ownership, including Federal and Tribal lands, to focus on the areas and animals most relevant to your work or interests.

The USGS collaborates with state wildlife agencies to develop maps and tools related to elk, deer, and pronghorn migration and land use. The USGS formed the Corridor Mapping Team, in partnership with federal and university scientists and State and Tribal wildlife experts, to map migrations and make the information publicly available. While the USGS provides the structure and coordination of the Corridor Mapping Team, participating Western States and Tribes provide the backbone of the effort by bringing decades of experience with wildlife habitats and wildlife tracking data collection. The result of this partnership is a growing inventory of mapped ungulate migrations across the Western States.

The available mapping layers come primarily from State and Tribal wildlife management agencies, who have a statutory responsibility to manage and conserve big game populations, including bison, elk, bighorn sheep, mule deer, and pronghorn. For decades, these agencies have deployed GPS collars on big game animals and collected tracking data to help identify the key habitats the herds require. The resulting GPS data are used by these agencies to provide a more complete understanding of the year-round habitat needs of the wildlife they manage, including seasonal ranges and migratory routes.