Olympics Mountain Goat relocation public meeting

[180-GRAIN]

I think adding to the glacier peak wilderness herd would be best. I think there is a huntable population in there now.  Maybe adding a few will create a hunt

[kevinlisa06]

I have hunted quite a bit up out of the Skykomish area, have yet to see a goat in there but have found lots of hair in the trees and brush.


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[nwhunter]

The ONP goal is to get the goats out of the park.. My guess is they will make an effort to relocate some of the goats but when the easy ones are netted and moved and the costs rise the guns will come out and the rest will die.. With the costs of flying and all involved in relocation the latter will be an easy out.. I hope not but my faith in the system is not high. The sad truth is the habitat up there is perfect mt goat country but without management by hunting and taking some goats every year the herd numbers are too high . It would be so easy to close a trail system for a week and take a couple goats with some guided hunters and rotate that through the high population areas and create revenue for the park instead of spending millions and raising access fees for everyone. I know this post wasn't about whether this was the right thing or not to do but I won't ever support the ONP desire to get rid of the goats based on the "feel good idea" we are relocating them all to a huntable area. If they actually do this will I volunteer to help, absolutely I will as I love mountain goats its just sad we are forced into this by a bunch of hippy park lovers who have forgotten why the park was created. Recreation includes hunting and fishing not just hiking and smelling the flowers and listening for a wolf to howl...

[j_h_nimrod]

Does anyone know of any genetic work carried out on the Olympic population of goats?  On Baranof Island, AK with no known historic population and a similar scenario as the Olympics (glacial refugia, large historic native population, similar mountains, etc.) that DNA work supported the fact there were a few, very isolated native goat populations that bred into the introduced population (samples from Baranof goats had genetic markers not found in the donor populations) .  I know that NPS has done everything it can to discredit the possibility there were ever goats on the peninsula and genetic tests may disprove their stance.  I would personally love to see this goat population remain as is with limited hunting on problem goat groups.

[nwwanderer]

nwhunter, way too much logic for wdfw.  Yours is the only reasonable action.  Seed the Sultan meeting with about 50 with your thoughts.

[JimmyHoffa]

The park relocated goats before and it was extremely expensive.  They had helicopters, sharpshooters w/tranquilizers, bios, etc.  Then they had greeny lawsuits.  The park was convinced that they got enough of them that the remaining goats had a low enough population that they would die off from inbreeding.
I think they just allow a special hunting season to kill of the goats and actually make money in the process.  A couple other national parks allow hunting for things like elk.

[snake]

Leaf lickers are scared of a little goat, wait until someone gets mauled by a grizzly over here in the NE. They will probably be silent.

[lokidog]

Good meeting, but holding it in Sultan?  Really?  Does anyone live in Sultan?  Talk about out of the way.  I'm guessing they don't want a lot of people at that meeting.

  

It's less out of the way for a lot of people than Olympia.  And, YES, some people live in Sultan.  I do, part time anyways.   

[jackelope]

I’m 30 or so minutes from Sultan, Loki. Not a big deal for me either. But we’re the exception, not the rule.

[Axle]

I can relocate 2 or 3 to my freezer. Those goats would slowly dissipate from there.
That would take part of the pressure off for some time and nobody would get hurt in the process. 

[X-Force]

Meeting times and locations are set. Ill be at the Woolley meeting.


Meetings planned on mountain goat relocation to native habitat in North Cascades 

 

https://wdfw.wa.gov/news/mar0618b/

OLYMPIA – Four meetings are scheduled in late March to enable northwest Washington residents to learn more about a proposal to move mountain goats from Olympic National Park to the North Cascades during the summers of 2018 and 2019.

The public is invited to hear a presentation and speak with representatives of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) during meetings in Sedro Woolley, Darrington, North Bend, and Sultan.

The National Park Service, in collaboration with the two agencies, has prepared a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for a mountain goat management plan to remove them from Olympic National Park to reduce damage to the park's natural resources – especially native vegetation – and to protect public safety.

The preferred alternative in the draft EIS calls for relocating some of the mountain goats from the park and nearby Forest Service lands to their native habitat in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie and Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests.

The Park Service is expected to issue a final EIS this spring.

Meetings are scheduled for:

•Tuesday, March 20, 7 to 9 p.m.
Mt. Baker Ranger District Office, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
 810 State Route 20
 Sedro Woolley

•Wednesday, March 21, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Darrington Library Meeting Room
 1005 Cascade St.
 Darrington
 (Note: The presentation will be made during the last segment of the meeting of Darrington Strong)

•Thursday, March 22, 7 to 9 p.m.
Snoqualmie Ranger District Office, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
 902 SE North Bend Way
 North Bend

•Monday, March 26, 7 to 9 p.m.
Sultan City Hall Meeting Room
 319 Main St., #200
 Sultan

[jackelope]

Thanks for posting that.
I'd like to say I'll be at the North Bend meeting. I will definitely try.

[X-Force]

The meeting was interesting there was only a hand full of people not there in official capacity. Farm and ranch reps, trail association, city and county council members, plus member of wdfw, USFS, Etc.

If I understood everything correctly relocation, if accepted, would be this year and next year, 2, two week periods in July and September in high goat density, predetermined areas. Capture, tag, collar as many goats as possible during each period, all goats that are healthy and not kids will be crated and put into a refrigeration truck for transport and relocate. Once at the relocation a heli would bring the crates into the backcountry for release. 20-25 goats per relocation site so that a viable population is released.
Kids will be sent to accepting and willing Zoos because their survival rate is very low in the cases of trapping and transporting.

Release sites are between I90 and HWY20. No goats will be dropped in the NCNP. Release sites are only in areas with adiquate habitat, a history of strong goat populations, and low current goat numbers.

After two years it is assumed that goat numbers in the park will show a hit and that viable populations will not be present for trap and transport so the next phase is... well I’ll let you go to the meeting and find out.

[Katmai Guy]

Was there any talk of keeping the conflict hunt tag after the relocation effort to control population outside the park?

[X-Force]

Was there any talk of keeping the conflict hunt tag after the relocation effort to control population outside the park?

No because the goal is to have a nonviable goat population in 5 years.