Intermountain West

Description: The mountain ranges west of the Rockies, east of the Sierra Nevada, north of Colorado and south of Canada. The Great Basin, a large semiarid basin, makes up a big part of this land mass. Pinyon-juniper woodlands, conifer forests and aspen woodlands are common at higher elevations.

Climate: Lower elevation communities receive less than 12 inches of precipitation a year. Areas to the north and at higher elevations receive most of their precipitation as snow.

The deer: If you could draw a bull’s-eye around the portion of the West that was once the center of mule deer distribution, you would draw it around this region. Mule deer typically migrate in this region (although some do not), spending summer in conifer forests at higher elevations and winter in lower elevations. Deer densities are highest in places where vegetation and topography are diverse. Agriculture and urban development have hurt mule deer populations in this region by destroying shrub communities and reducing winter range.

Limiting factors: Competition with livestock, agriculture, urban development and timber management. Each year, thousands of acres of sagebrush habitat and valleys are being overtaken by pinyon- juniper stands, much to the detriment of mule deer. In the southern part of the region, invasive plants such as cheatgrass and changes in fire cycles are limiting mule deer productivity. Habitat in spring and summer affect mule deer productivity more than severe winters because the quality of spring and summer range affects the number of fawns surviving to adulthood. Urban development may affect recruitment because it is occurring in mule deer winter range.

Recommendations:

1. Manage motorized traffic to benefit mule deer.

2. Manage forests for both early and late successional stages to meet year-round needs of mule deer.

3. Protect and plant important browse species for mule deer, especially in winter ranges.

4. Manage wildfires on mule deer ranges to avoid cheatgrass invasion.

5. Manage livestock grazing to minimize impacts to mule deer along streams and in aspen habitats.

6. Develop cost-effective ways to reduce pinyon-juniper invasion, and place a priority on developing a patchwork of habitats so that mule deer have woody cover near places to forage.