Migration Routes of Elk in the Jackson Herd in Wyoming

Elk within the Jackson herd have been the focus of management for over a century. The herd, which numbers between 9,000 -13,000, winters in Jackson Hole. Most of the herd winters in the sagebrush basins and irrigated fields of the National Elk Refuge, with less than a quarter of the herd wintering in the Gros Ventre drainage to the east. Migrating animals travel an average one-way distance of 39 miles, with some migrating as far as 168 miles. The herd is partially migratory, containing both migrant and residents. In spring, the migrants move north on either side of Jackson Lake, into the eastern foothills of the Teton Range and into the upper drainages of the Snake River and the southern portion of Yellowstone National Park. A smaller segment migrates east up the Gros Ventre River drainage and its upper tributaries. A study by the National Elk Refuge documented a long-term reduction in the migratory segment of the herd between 1978 and 2012. This trend is thought to be driven by declining calf recruitment of the migratory segment. Few obstacles to migration exist for this herd, which moves through a vast expanse of habitats managed by either the National Forest or National Park system. These data provide the location of migration routes for Elk (Cervus canadensis) in the Jackson herd in Wyoming. They were developed from Brownian bridge movement models using 595 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 247 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 2-8 hours.

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