Data accompanying "Landscape composition surrounding restoration projects modulates use by wildlife: a case study of mule deer in Utah"

With mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), hereafter, deer, populations in decline, wildlife managers have increased their efforts to improve factors that limit population growth. In the State of Utah (hereafter, Utah), these efforts have included habitat restoration which is expected to improve environmental conditions for deer. Some of these efforts include pinon-juniper removal, prescribed burning, and spraying of invasive plant species. Although previous work has demonstrated the local impacts of restoration on deer populations, it is unknown how the environmental conditions in the landscape surrounding restoration treatments may modify local restoration impacts. Identifying how both local and landscape-scale conditions influence deer response to habitat restoration would ensure valid inference, and enable spatially-precise management recommendations. Our objective was to identify the scale-specific environmental drivers that influence mule deer seasonal use of 8 types of restoration projects using data from 1,936 GPS-collared deer from 2015-2021, and 813 treatment sites. Our findings showed that the abundance of collared deer on restoration sites is related to both the type of restoration treatment examined, and patterns of landcover composition surrounding restoration sites at 1, 5, 10, and 20km spatial scales. While High Elevation Fire Rehabilitation and Sagebrush Restoration treatments, and Pinyon-juniper Removal treatments had the highest relative use during summer, and winter, respectively, use of treatments during winter was greater in landscapes containing additional treatment sites. We found that during winter, relative use across all treatment types was higher when restoration projects were sited within 10-20km of Pinyon-Juniper Removal treatments with and without seeding. Restoration projects that were not sited in proximity of Aspen restoration or Low Elevation Fire Rehabilitation sites also had higher estimated use during winter. Together, our analyses can provide decision support for determining the optimal locations for future restoration treatments to strategically design landscapes expected to support the highest relative use by focal wildlife.