This week federal and state agencies begin work relocating mountain goats from the Olympic Mountains to the North Cascades. It’s the first phase of a year-long plan to relocate or kill all the mountain goats in Olympic National Park, where they are an invasive species that was introduced in the early 1900s.
There are more than 700 goats on the Olympic Peninsula now, compared to an estimated 2,000 in the North Cascades, where the animals have lived for thousands of years.
The population of goats in the North Cascades has declined since the mid-1900s and wildlife managers say bringing in goats from the Olympic Peninsula will improve genetic diversity and help the population continue to recover and expand across the North Cascades range.
The mountain goats will be captured in Olympic National Park using tranquilizer guns fired from helicopters. Some may be captured on the ground using drop nets and modified box traps. Then the goats will be transported by helicopter to staging areas where veterinarians will check them out and take blood samples before the animals are loaded into individual crates and transported by truck off the Olympic Peninsula.
They’ll then be released using helicopters to move them up into the alpine ecosystems of the North Cascades. Some of the goats will be deposited near Tower Mountain in the Methow Valley this week, as well as at sites near Darrington, Mt. Index, the Skykomish Ranger District of Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and in the Cedar River Drainage.
Local officials estimate the current population of mountain goats in the Methow Valley area at roughly 45 animals. Mountain goats and other ungulates are drawn to burn areas because there are more grasses to forage. They will find plenty of that habitat in the Methow Valley in the coming years.
