Goat Rocks Wilderness, in southern Washington, is home to a well-known population of mountain goats and offers five coveted hunting permits each year. In recent years, sportsmen have assisted District Wildlife Biologist, Eric Holman, with goat data collection after hunters successfully harvest an animal. The sampling includes nasal swabs and blood samples from the mountain goats to test for Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (Movi), a respiratory pathogen frequently found in domestic sheep and goats. This pathogen is also responsible for devastating pneumonia outbreaks in big horn sheep and more recently in populations of mountain goats in Nevada.
Last year, one of the harvested goats from Washington’s District 10 tested positive for Movi. In hopes that this was nothing more than a false positive, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife will closely monitor this otherwise healthy herd of over 300 animals. Goat Rocks is currently the second largest hunted population of mountain goats in the state of Washington.
On
July 15-17, the Rocky Mountain Goat Alliance will head out on part of the Pacific Crest Trail outside of Packwood, Washington to survey the resident herd. We will be conducting a population analysis as well as monitoring for symptoms that may indicate Movi infection. This includes coughing, sneezing and overall ill animals. We are currently recruiting volunteers for this project and need as much help as we can get.
A secondary survey is scheduled for September 9-11 to analyze kid survival rates during the first 3-months of life. The data collected will be used in comparison of the July survey’s data to determine survival rate of this year’s kids.
We need your help! If you would like to join us in the mountains for these three-day, two-night, backpacking survey, please contact WA RMGA volunteer coordinator
Allen Ernst at allen.ernst@comcast.net or (206) 229-2519, or RMGA President, Pete Muennich at Peter@goatalliance.org or (406) 551-5104.
All able-hikers welcome! Please come prepared with proper backcountry camping gear including good boots, water filtration systems, food, optics, GPS and cameras if you have them. Help us spread the word and share this project with anyone and everyone who may able to assist. The plan right now is for volunteers to rendezvous in the town of Packwood the morning of July 15th and September 9th. We may have horseback support from the area's outfitter, but plan on being self-propelled.
All volunteers will have to formally register with the state of Washington here ::
http://wdfw.wa.gov/about/volunteer/Additionally, those entering the Goat Rocks Wilderness must have a wilderness permit and follow the appropriate regulations found here:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/giffordpinchot/recarea/?recid=79414Best regards,
Allen
