Conserving Mule Deer
Increasing Mule Deer on the Nevada Landscape
Mule Deer in Nevada
Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) are found across the state of Nevada. They are a welcome sight to wildlife viewers and hunters alike. The species can be found throughout Nevada from the Mojave Desert to sub-alpine mountain tops to coniferous forests in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Their populations are most often associated with sagebrush steppe, aspen, and mountain shrub communities.
These large mammals are ungulates, a group of hoofed mammals including elk, pronghorn, and moose. In Nevada, they are our most abundant ungulate. The sagebrush steppe provides the preferred habitat for mule deer to find food, shelter, and meet their needs. Their diet fluctuates with the seasons, consuming sagebrush and other shrubs in the winter when many other plants sit dormant, and flowering plants and grasses in the spring and summer.
Mule deer can be impressive migrators. They typically move between high elevations for the summer and lower elevations for the winter. However, some populations of mule deer will travel over 100 miles to find high quality forage and avoid deep snow. These migration routes are important pieces of habitat to support mule deer populations.
Populations of mule deer in Nevada have been steadily declining for the last 30 years. A natural fluctuation in number is expected due to seasonal impacts on vegetation, predator populations, and inclement winter weather. However, the continuous decline in Nevada deer populations has sparked action by the Nevada Department of Wildlife with the initiation of the Mule Deer Enhancement Program (MDEP).
Implementing Solutions
The Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) is tasked with protecting, conserving, managing, and restoring wildlife, and it was clear that action was needed to address the dwindling mule deer population. NDOW initiated the Mule Deer Enhancement Program (MDEP) to focus specifically on efforts to conserve and improve mule deer habitat and minimize factors limiting healthy mule deer populations. Taking on a conservation challenge of this scale requires collaboration and many different stakeholders are a part of this important effort.
The MDEP was initiated in 2021. This endeavor is purpose-driven to collaborate with the Sagebrush Conservation Initiative, Nevada’s Habitat Conservation Framework, U.S. Department of Interior’s Secretarial Order 3362, and other conservation efforts to enact positive changes for mule deer and other wildlife in Nevada. MDEP builds partnerships with land management agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), sportsmen, industry partners, private landowners, conservationists, and others to secure funding for and implement conservation actions in mule deer habitat in Nevada.
(RE)CONNECTING WILD - RESTORING SAFE PASSAGE
MDEP consists of an Oversight Committee and subcommittees made up of the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners, NGO members, environmental experts, federal agency representatives, and NDOW staff. The subcommittees develop project proposals for the Oversight Committee to prioritize and make recommendations for funding and implementation. Habitat improvement projects that have been supported by the committee include Pinyon and Juniper removal, spring and aspen enhancement, stream restoration, herbicide application to remove invasive plant species and seeding with more desirable and useful species, and guzzler construction. All these projects focus on mitigating the habitat challenges directly facing mule deer and other wildlife species in Nevada. In 2021 the MDEP Oversight Committee approved habitat enhancement and investigation projects totaling $947,000, and in 2022 a variety of projects totaling $1,770,000 were approved. Many of these projects have begun to be implemented by NDOW and other project partners.