Bighorn Sheep Habitat Quality Across the Navajo Nation

This map contains estimates of habitat quality and connectivity for desert bighorn sheep. The analysis area was a 236,000 square kilometers that encompassed the Navajo Nation, which includes portions of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. The estimates of habitat quality were created with spatially explicit habitat variables and either an expert-based linear combination process (for mountain lion and mule deer) or a generalized linear mixed model-based estimation that used radio-collar telemetry data (for desert bighorn sheep, black bear, and pronghorn; collected between 2005-2011). Habitat variables varied among species but included vegetation type, terrain ruggedness, topographic position index (TPI), road density, distance to water, population density, and major barriers to movement.