Mule deer browse in a wheat field on private land near Teton Canyon, Idaho, after
migrating 40 miles from Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, shown in the background.
The new film “Animal Trails: Rediscovering Grand Teton Migrations” documents how mule
deer and other big-game species migrate beyond the national park for part of each
year to meet their habitat and nutritional needs. (National Park Service/Idaho Department
of Fish and Game Photo)

A new wildlife documentary chronicling the large mammal migrations of Grand Teton
National Park was released online this week, showing how the park is biologically
connected to distant habitats in Idaho and Wyoming.

“Animal Trails: Rediscovering Grand Teton Migrations” is now available for streaming,
after screening in Grand Teton National Park’s Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor
Center and Colter Bay Museum during summer 2023. You can watch the film at www.vimeo.com/migrationinitiative/AnimalTrails.

“We are living amid a revolution in migration science happening in and around the
edges of one of America’s crown-jewel national parks,” says director Gregory Nickerson,
a writer and filmmaker with the Wyoming Migration Initiative at the University of
Wyoming. “Grand Teton migrations are a story of diverse land ownership and stewardship
of migrations on this landscape over thousands of years.”

The film documents more than a decade of research revealing how Grand Teton National
Park’s mule deer and pronghorn depend on habitats up to 190 miles away from the park
boundaries.

Many of the wild animals that visitors enjoy in Grand Teton spend only part of the
year there. Winter ranges and migration routes across Idaho, Wyoming and the Wind
River Indian Reservation are vital for the survival of big-game herds in the national
park.

“Animal Trails” was co-produced by the Wyoming Migration Initiative and Grand Teton
National Park. The film is part of a new migration-themed exhibit, “Grand Migrations:
Wildlife on the Move,” that recently opened at the park’s Craig Thomas Visitor Center
in Moose. Both the film and exhibit reflect a growing emphasis by Grand Teton National
Park managers to tell the story of wildlife migrations and the regional partnerships
needed to conserve them.

“Millions of visitors come from all over the world to see the magnificent wildlife
that calls Grand Teton National Park home,” says Chip Jenkins, superintendent of Grand
Teton National Park. “To have the chance to see thousands of elk migrate, like they
have done for centuries, is awe-inspiring, and you know you are witnessing something
vital to their survival.”

Grand Teton National Park has made a dedicated effort to map mule deer migrations
since 2013, complementing parallel efforts by UW, Idaho Fish and Game, the Wyoming
Game and Fish Department, and the Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes’ Fish and Game of the
Wind River Indian Reservation.

“When we place a collar on a mule deer, we never know where it’s going to end up,”
says Sarah Dewey, a wildlife biologist with Grand Teton National Park. “It’s been
exciting to discover migratory connections to winter ranges far beyond the boundaries
of the park, across the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.”

Migration Science in the Tetons

Grand Teton National Park migrations arise from the fact that the area is one of the
wettest parts of the middle Rocky Mountains, attracting migrating animals from great
distances. While the warm seasons are verdant, winters are harsh along the Tetons,
especially in the northern part of Jackson Hole. In response, animals migrate to winter
ranges with less snow.

Elk migrations have long been recognized by Indigenous hunters, ranchers, outfitters
and biologists in Jackson Hole. During the 1930s, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department
mapped movements of elk in detail by counting tracks in the snow.

Migratory pronghorn graze in Grand Teton National Park. In winter, pronghorn escape
the deep snow of Jackson Hole by migrating to the Green River Basin on the Path of
the Pronghorn, portions of which are 6,000 years old. (Josh Metten Photo)

Around the turn of the 21st century, biologists deployed GPS tracking collars to map
pronghorn and mule deer migrations. Detailed maps of these movements are redefining
how people understand the ecology and geography of the Grand Teton area and across
vast stretches of the Rocky Mountains.

Animations in the film show how mule deer make some of the most impressive migrations
among ungulates, or hooved mammals. Some mule deer depart Grand Teton National Park
to migrate west over the 9,000-foot passes into Idaho, where they spend winter along
the Teton River Canyon and the wheat fields of the Teton Valley.

However, the majority of mule deer stay in Wyoming and migrate east across rugged
mountain passes to the Shoshone River near Cody, the Wind River Indian Reservation
or the Green River Basin.

A Long History of Migrations

The film notes that Indigenous people have known about migrations for a long time
and woven their lives into these animal movements, both in the past and in present
day.

“Thanks to migrations, the Grand Teton area has been rich in sustenance for all time,”
Shoshone educator George Abeyta says. “We need to listen to what our animals are telling
us.”

Maps of the migrations underscore how a significant part of the greater Yellowstone
ecosystem centers on migrations to Grand Teton National Park. More than a century
of conservation has sustained these animal movements across national parks, national
forests, Bureau of Land Management sites and vast working lands (private ranches)
that are a hallmark of the Cowboy State.

And yet, the biologists in the film recognize growing threats to Grand Teton migrations
due to rural development, increased traffic, outdated fence designs, loss of working
ranchlands, other private lands and more.

In response, people have joined together to conserve migrations and open spaces through
public-private partnerships that cross jurisdictional boundaries.

“While the mule deer movements themselves are spectacular, and delineating them is
important, the connections with new partners and collaborators — private landowners
and other agencies, organizations or land managers who are stewards of the winter
ranges — are key to conserving well beyond park boundaries and are critical to sustaining
these migratory populations with Grand Teton,” Dewey says. 

In the film, Jill Randall, Wyoming Game and Fish big-game migration coordinator, emphasizes
the decades of collaborative efforts across the region on wildlife-friendly fence
modifications and wildlife crossings.

Additionally, motorists can act to conserve migrations. For many animals, spring and
fall migrations are times when animals may be more active near roadways and can cross
the roads unexpectedly. Drivers should use caution and slow down, especially at dawn,
dusk and during the night, when visibility is reduced. Being aware of your surroundings
and paying keen attention help reduce the number of large animals hit by vehicles
every year.

Often, migrations are anchored by private lands stewarded by ranchers and farmers,
many of whom voluntarily place their lands in conservation easements. Some of these
very landowners helped create nonprofit organizations such as the Jackson Hole Land
Trust, the Wyoming Stockgrowers Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy and Teton Valley
Land Trust.

“Migrations are at the core of how this ecosystem operates, and humans are an integral
and enduring part of that story,” Nickerson says. “We hope people watching this film
feel inspired and empowered to maintain these incredible migrations long into the
future.”

About the Film

The Wyoming Migration Initiative production team included associate directors Emily
Reed and Patrick Rodgers and lead scientist Matthew Kauffman.

Seventeen wildlife cinematographers contributed footage to the film, which was funded
by the Knobloch Family Foundation, the Grand Teton National Park Association and the
George B. Storer Foundation.

Grand Teton National Park mule deer research was funded by the Charles Engelhard Foundation,
Cross Charitable Foundation, Grand Teton National Park Foundation, Greater Yellowstone
Coordinating Committee, Hamill Family Foundation, Idaho Department of Fish and Game,
Knobloch Family Foundation, Meg and Bert Raynes Wildlife Fund, pH Fund of Schwab Charitable,
Snake River Chapter of the Mule Deer Foundation and the National Park Service.

The film has a run time of 25 minutes and will screen at the Grand Teton National
Park Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center and Colter Bay Museum during the summer
2024 season.