USDA Signs Memo on Conserving Mule Deer Migration routes!
On October 21, 2024, the USDA followed the Departments of Interiors lead and articulated through a Secretarial Memo the importance of identifying and conserving wildlife/big game migratory corridors and connective habitats.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack signed a memorandum acknowledging the importance of the Department of Agriculture’s responsibilities regarding the conservation of wildlife movement patterns and migratory routes on both public and private land.
This memorandum announces to the world that the USDA recognizes the importance of these big-game migration patterns and sees value in the department’s role in enhancing these migration routes across the country. The Mule Deer Foundation would like to offer our sincerest “Thank You” to Secretary Vilsack and the Department of Agriculture. When private entities or government agencies volunteer their efforts in conservation, they set an example for the rest of the country to follow.
What is in this Memo?
Yesterday’s memo directs several USDA agencies, specifically NRCS, FSA, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to:
– Consider terrestrial wildlife habitat connectivity and corridors in relevant planning processes, programs, and assessments. This would include NRCS and FSA Farm Bill conservation programs, USFS Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnerships program, USFS land management planning and wildfire crisis planning, and APHIS wildlife disease management programs.
– Improve internal coordination and delivery of USDA planning processes and programs to increase wildlife connectivity outcomes, such as through continued alignment of NRCS and FSA private landowner programs to maximize habitat connectivity outcomes, encouragement of innovation in conservation practices, and additional financial assistance.
– Improve coordination with states, Tribes, and other federal agencies, including recognition of Tribal sovereignty and individual state authorities, and improve direct collaboration with the Departments of the Interior, Transportation, Defense, and other agencies.
– Collaborate with non-governmental organizations to facilitate engagement with and support of local communities.
What this means for Mule Deer
Mule Deer make massive overland migrations yearly across thousands of acres of land owned or managed by dozens of entities. Efforts like those displayed by the USDA are critical to ensuring these herds are here for future generations.
“The Mule Deer Foundation applauds the signing of this Secretarial Memo, which will ensure that the full suite of USDA programs and resources are coordinated to sustain mule deer and other big game populations that migrate,” said Steve Belinda, Chief Conservation Officer for the Mule Deer Foundation. “Like DOI’s Secretarial Order 3362, USDA has the potential to facilitate on-the-ground conservation over a vast area of public and private lands critical to conserving and improving mule deer and other wildlife habitat.”
An initial progress report on this memorandum is due to the Secretary by June 30, 2025.
For more on the Mule Deer Foundation’s efforts on migration corridors, please click here: https://muledeer.org/migration-initiatives/
Good Luck!
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Trevor J Hubbs https://www.instagram.com/trevorhubbs/
Trevor is the Communications Manager for the Mule Deer Foundation. He grew up hunting and fishing the eastern edge of the Ozark mountains for quail, ducks, and bucks. Trevor is a contributor for “Fur, Fish, and Game”, Lethal Minds Journal, Strung Magazine, and Feathers and Whiskey, among others.
