Film about GTNP animal migrations streams for free

GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK — A new wildlife documentary, “Animal Trails: Rediscovering Grand Teton Migrations,” capturing the large mammal migrations of Grand Teton National Park (GTNP), shows how the park is biologically connected to distant habitats in Idaho, Wyoming and the Wind River Indian Reservation.

The 25-minute film, co-produced by the Wyoming Migration Initiative and GTNP, tells the survival story of GTNP’s mule deer and pronghorn as they migrate to habitats up to 190 miles away. Footage from 17 wildlife cinematographers and more than a decade of research brings the “longest annual migration by a land animal in the Lower 48” to life, the National Park Service (NPS) said via press release.

Featured experts in the film include: (upper row from left to right) George Abeyta, Eastern Shoshone Educator; Sarah Dewey, Justin Schwabedissen, and Superintendent Chip Jenkins with GTNP; Art Lawson, Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes Fish and Game; (lower row left to right) Josh Rydalch, Idaho Department of Fish and Game; Clen Atchley, Flying A Ranch, Lamont, Idaho; Tony Mong and Jill Randall, Wyoming Game and Fish Department; and Max Ludington, Jackson Hole Land Trust. Photo: NPS

According to GTNP, their collaboration with the University of Wyoming, Idaho Fish and Game, Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the Shoshone and Arapaho Fish and Game of the Wind River Indian Reservation, has compiled data and mapped mule deer movement since 2013.

“When we place a collar on a mule deer we never know where it’s going to end up,” GTNP wildlife biologist Sarah Dewey said via press release. “It’s been exciting to discover migratory connections to winter ranges far beyond the boundaries of the park, across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.”

An animation from the film shows GPS routes of mule deer travel spiraling out in all directions from Grand Teton National Park, at center. Photo: NPS

The National Park Service (NPS) describes GTNP as one of the wettest parts of the middle Rocky Mountains, producing the most digestible plant growth in the parks, and animals travel great distances to spring and summer in this food rich habitat. Mothers teach their fawns a route that is passed down through generations and small herds move together across roads, fences, through towns and over rugged mountains, according to GTNP. The film shows how some mule deer depart GTNP to migrate west over the 9,000 foot passes into Idaho, where they spend winter along the Teton River Canyon. The film also depicts that the the majority of ungulates winter 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.

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. Photo courtesy of Josh Metten

“We are living amid a revolution in migration science happening in and around the edges of one of America’s crown-jewel national parks,” Film Director Gregory Nickerson said via press release. “Grand Teton migrations are a story of diverse land ownership, and stewardship of migrations on this landscape over thousands of years.”

According to the NPS, the film sheds light on the fact that Indigenous people have woven their lives into these animal movements both in the past and in present day.

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

Biologists in the film state the need to conserve migration routes and open spaces through public-private partnerships due to the growing threats of rural development, increased traffic, outdated fence designs and loss of working ranch lands, according to the NPS press release.

“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 said via press release.

“Animal Trails” is part of a new migration-themed exhibit “Grand Migrations: Wildlife on the Move” that recently opened at the Craig Thomas Visitor Center. The Craig Thomas Visitor Center closed for the winter on Nov. 1 and reopens on April 30.

The Grand Migrations: Wildlife on the Move exhibit at Grand Teton National Park’s Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center. Photo: Chip Jenkins // NPS

“Millions of visitors come from all over the world to see the magnificent wildlife that calls Grand Teton National Park home,” Superintendent of GTNP Chip Jenkins said via press release. “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.”