The "Time and Space" theme is really an invitation to map movement rather than a static snapshot. Wildlife migration is a natural fit: the same herd occupies very different geography depending on the season, and the space between summer and winter range only matters because of when the animals move through it.
Migration as a time-and-space problem
This map traces the migration pathways and stopover habitats of the Paunsaugunt Plateau mule deer herd in southern Utah, using stopover data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Stopovers — the sites where deer pause to rest and forage during migration — are as important to the map as the corridors themselves; losing either breaks the seasonal connection between ranges.
Reading the map
The corridors show how the herd moves between winter and summer range, with stopover habitats marking the waypoints where that movement isn't continuous. Together they describe a route that only makes sense across an annual cycle, not at any single point in time.
Why it matters
Migration corridors and stopovers are exactly the kind of geography that's invisible until it's mapped — and easy to fragment with development that looks harmless in isolation. Understanding these spatial patterns is what makes it possible to keep migration routes intact as land use around them keeps changing.
Originally created for the “Time and Space” theme of the 2024 #30DayMapChallenge, using U.S. Geological Survey mule deer migration stopover data for the Paunsaugunt Plateau herd.