Mule deer are named for their large, mule-like ears that keep the deer alert for signs of danger. These days, humans are hoping to augment that instinct. Wildlife biologists are mapping mule deer habitat from Mexico to Canada and identifying specific regional and environmental problems to try to stem the deer's decline across the West. As recently as the 1960s, an estimated 2.3 million mule deer roamed the diverse landscape stretching from the Pacific Coast to the Great Plains and the deserts of the Southwest to the mountainous terrain of the Northwest Territories. But their numbers have since dropped sharply. In Nevada, mule deer populations dropped from about 149,000 in 1993 to 109,000 a decade later, said Gregg Tanner, big game chief for the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

   The Mule Deer Working Group of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife formed in 1998 to address mule deer management problems and promote cooperative research. ``One thing we recognized early on, a lot of work done on mule deer has been done on a small scale,'' said Jim DeVos, research chief for the Arizona Game and Fish Department and chairman of the working group. The three-year mapping project, DeVos said, will allow biologists and others to identify the key problems in the areas where mule deer live. It's expected to be completed this spring. Biologists hope the information will be used by property owners, land managers and urban planners to enhance and protect critical mule deer habitat. The group also is starting to develop broad guidelines for managing the animals. Effective habitat management, experts said, needs to recognize the social and political forces in the West, including population growth and natural resource development. ``There has to be a balance struck somewhere,'' said Terry Cloutier, president of the Reno-based Mule Deer Foundation. ``Everyone has their own little interest and a lot of time wildlife tends to bite the dust.''

   Mule deer are generally bigger than white-tailed deer and more muscular, inhabiting diverse terrain throughout the West from forested coastal regions to mountainous desert rangelands. Experts said there's no one cause for the deer's decline. They suffer from the same problems that plague other wildlife species -- human encroachment and development, habitat changes, predators, diseases and climatic changes such as drought and severe winters. ``What we're seeing right now, a lot of factors don't allow mule deer numbers to rebound to the same numbers they once did,'' DeVos said. ``Climate controls the direction mule deer are going in. But habitat condition controls the ... peaks and valleys that occur in the population.''

    In forest environments, experts said fire prevention hurts deer habitat because it disrupts the natural rejuvenation of the grassy plants and shrubs that deer feed on. In other places like the Great Basin, massive fire destroys the delicate sagebrush ecosystem that is then taken over by invasive weeds such at cheatgrass, which then provides fuel for more fires. ``The push for working with endangered species and multispecies management has kind of left the broadly distributed mule deer on the tail end of land use planning,'' DeVos said. DeVos said the mule deer working group is teaming up with other conservation organizations to promote common goals. He points out that sage grouse and mule deer often share the same habitat. ``What we're saying is, mule deer and sage grouse are suffering from the very same habitat degradation. Instead of working independently, together we can combine forces -- do good for sage grouse, do good for mule deer.''