Description: The San Antonio elk herd migrates from the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument (RGDNNM) to the southern San Juan Mountains of north-central New Mexico and south-central Colorado (7,000 to 11,500 ft elevation). Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, Taos Field Office, the RGDNNM contains the Taos Plateau and a portion of the Rio Grande. GPS-collar data from the herd in 2020–2021 indicate that elk winter near San Antonio Mountain or east of U.S. Highway 285 on the Taos Plateau, with some elk wintering as far east as the Rio Grande. Herds from the eastern side of the Rio Grande Gorge also winter on the Taos Plateau. Critical winter range consists primarily of sagebrush steppe, with pinyon-juniper dominating the volcanic cones of Cerro de la Olla, Cerro del Aire, Cerro Montoso, and Cerro Chiflo that are scattered across the monument. North of the volcanic cones, the area is rich in winterfat (Ceratoides lanata), providing nutrition high in protein during the harsh winters. Key terrestrial habitats across seasonal ranges include inter-mountain basins big sagebrush shrubland, Rocky Mountain alpine montane wet meadow, and Rocky Mountain montane mixed conifer forest and woodland. Within the Taos Plateau, 61,330 acres have been identified as migration corridors, 218,962 acres as winter range, and 100,191 acres as summer range for big game species. Migrations typically begin in early spring, with elk taking extended stopovers in the eastern foothills and slopes of the San Juan Mountains, primarily along the Rio San Antonio. By late spring, many of the elk continue their migration towards the western slopes of the San Juan Mountains or north into Colorado. Some elk travel to lower elevation foothills along the western slopes of the San Juan Mountains, before retracing some of their movements to settle on their high-elevation summer range. Summer range habitats are typically mid- to high-elevation mixed conifer and aspen forests with interspersed montane meadows. The crossing of U.S. Highway 285 may create an obstacle to elk migrations, as 29 of 40 wildlife-vehicle collisions involved elk in 2009–2018. These mapping layers show the location of the migration corridors for elk (Cervus canadensis) in the San Antonio herd in New Mexico. They were developed from 71 migration sequences collected from a sample size of 31 animals comprising GPS locations collected every 2-12 hours.
Description: General and Priority elk, mule deer, black bear, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep habitats developed for incorporation into the Western's Governor's Association (WGA) Wildlife Corridors Initiative - Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool (CHAT) complied in April 2013. General and Priority Catagories were developed following guidance from the WGA CHAT Project: States must prioritize SERI occupied habitat into Priority (e.g. crucial winter range, fawning range, migration corridors, etc.) and/or General habitat (e.g. year-round range, winter range, general distribution, etc.). CHAT Project, Western Governor's Association (2012). Crucial habitat areas for elk, deer, pronghorn and bighorn sheep were digitized (at approximately 1:250,000 scale) under direction of New Mexico Game and Fish Department’s species biologists and Big Game Manager. Crucial habitat areas for black bear are catagory levels 1 and 2 selected from a bear model developed by Costello et al. The bear model in use was developed as a result of the 10 year bear ecology study undertaken in New Mexico and completed in 2001 (Costello et al. 2001). The model relies on occurence of vegetation that bears use as cover and forage in the state and elevation. While bears do occur, and breed, outside of the modeled area it is generally in small habitat patches and their occurance there may be ephemeral in nature. The model describes 3 levels of habitat quality but we only use the best quality habitat to estimate the population as a conservative measure.
Copyright Text: New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.
Costello, C.M., D.E. Jones, K.A. Green Hammond, R.M. Inman, K.H. Inman, B.C. Thompson, R.A. Deitner, H.B. Quigley. 2001. A study of black bear ecology in New Mexico with models for population dynamics and habitat suitability. Final Report, Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Project W-131-R, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Santa Fe, NM. 218 p.