JACKSON, WY— Every year, thousands of our hooved neighbors uproot from their seasonal homes and hit the road. But how and where ungulate migration happens tells an important story about ungulate culture, intelligence and adaptation, and the human impact on these animals’ journeys. It’s a story that has never been thoroughly documented—until now.

The first-ever atlas of ungulate migration was released this week, detailing the ecology and conservation of migratory big game species including mule deer, elk and pronghorn in Wyoming, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and adjacent western states.

The authors of “Wild Migrations: Atlas of Wyoming’s Ungulates” will present their findings at the Center for the Arts theater this Sunday, November 4. Join them for an author presentation at 6:30 p.m., followed by a reception and book signing (complete with free barbecue and a cash bar) at 7:30 p.m.

“Wild Migrations” is a result of a six-year collaboration between wildlife biologists at the University of Wyoming and cartographers at the University of Oregon. The book also draws on the long-time experience and expertise of wildlife managers with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and other experts and historians from around the West. The project uses state-of-the-art animal movement data and cartography to visualize migrations of animals across complex and changing landscapes.

Maps and infographics show how mule deer time their migrations into the mountains to match the pace of the spring green up, how the cultural knowledge of moose tells them how long to wait for snow to melt before starting migration, and how Yellowstone bison re-fashion their movements in winters when they encounter deep snow. These are just a few examples of the new ecological understanding illustrated through beautiful maps in the book.

“Our primary impetus in creating this book was to help inform the conservation challenge that lies ahead,” says Kauffman. “Wild Migrations grew out of the idea that if we made better maps of the migration corridors these herds depend on, we could do a better job of conserving them.”

In addition to the map illustrations, Wild Migrations uses stunning color images from National Geographic photographer Joe Riis, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s Mark Gocke, and other photographers along with written accounts to tell the larger story of Wyoming’s migratory herds. A series of essays by natural history writer Emilene Ostlind, who once hiked the 100-mile Path of the Pronghorn, are woven throughout the book.

Coauthors of Wild Migrations are Matthew Kauffman, Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit director; Bill Rudd, former Wyoming Game and Fish biologist and cofounder of the Wyoming Migration Initiative; Jim Meacham and Alethea Steingisser, cartographers at the University of Oregon InfoGraphics Lab; Hall Sawyer, research biologist with Western EcoSystems Technology; and Emilene Ostlind, editor and science storyteller at the Ruckelshaus Institute in the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming. Renowned novelist and former Wyoming resident Annie Proulx — a keen observer of the state’s people, wildlife, and wild places — contributed the book’s foreword.

Wild Migrations was published by Oregon State University Press and can be purchased at the Valley Bookstore or online here, or through the Center for the Arts ticket office (see below). Major sponsors of the book include the Knobloch Family Foundation, the George B. Storer Foundation and the Biodiversity Institute at the University of Wyoming, among many others.

For more information and updates, follow the Wyoming Migration Initiative on Facebook, Twitter @wyo_migrations, or Instagram @migrationinitiative.

Tickets to the author presentation cost $10 and are available at JHCenterForTheArts.org. You can also buy your ticket and book together online for $50 (a $10 discount). A limited number of books will be available for purchase at the Center for the Arts during the event.