Mountain Goat Removal Wrap-up
Oct. 20, 2022
2022 saw the conclusion of Olympic National Park’s five-year mountain goat capture and translocation project. In total, 548 mountain goats were removed from both the national park and Olympic National Forest. The park will now transition to a 15-year maintenance phase which will ensure that any surviving goats will not reestablish a population in the Park. Park staff will continue to monitor and occasionally lethally remove remaining mountain goats. A final report on the mountain goat removal process will be completed in late 2022.
A short video that describes the multi-agency effort to remove goats from the Olympics and supplement declining goat populations in the Cascades can be seen here.
Park Finishes Live Capture, Moves to Lethal Mountain Goat Removal
Nov. 16, 2020
In 2020, Olympic National Park completed its live-capture program by capturing an additional 50 non-native mountain goats. A total of 325 goats have been successfully translocated to the Cascades. The number far exceeded expectations.
In fall 2020, the Park began the next and last phase of the removal project: lethal removal of goats from the Olympic Mountains. This phase involved ground-based shooting by trained volunteers. Eighteen groups of three or more were selected for three hunts which took place from September 9 to October 16. Volunteers were trained and assigned to remote areas of the Park for culling. Thirty-one goats were taken, bringing the total number of goats removed form the Olympics to 412, well over half the estimated population of 725. Remaining goats will be lethally removed in aerial operations in 2021 and 2022 as needed.
Introduced to the Olympic mountains in the 1920s for sport hunting, mountain goats have spread throughout the high country, severely impacting fragile and endemic flora. OPA has long advocated for removal of destructive non-native goats from the Park and Olympic National Forest. We consider removal is essential to maintain the ecological health of this UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve.
Park Moves to Lethal Mountain Goat Removal in 2020
Updated Sept. 17, 2020
During the summer of 2020, the final mountain goat live capture and translocation operation in Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest was competed. The interagency team live-captured 50 more goats. This brings the number of non-native goats removed from the Olympics to 381, well over half the estimated population. These numbers far exceeded expectations and live capture and translocation of goats to the Cascades is considered a success
This fall, Olympic National Park began the next phase of the project, lethal removal of goats from the Olympic Mountains. This phase of the multi-year removal involves ground-based shooting by trained volunteers. From more than a thousand applicants, 18 groups of three or more were selected, six groups for each of three planned hunts taking place from September 9 to October 16. Volunteers were trained and assigned to remote areas of the Park for culling.
OPA has long held that removal of destructive non-native goats from the Park and Forest is essential for the ecological health of this World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve.
Year Two of Olympic National Park’s Mountain Goat Removal a Success
Click to enlarge
Olympic National Park built on the success of its first year of non-native mountain goat management by removing an additional 122 non-native goats in 2019. One hundred and one goats were captured by helicopter, medically examined, inoculated and translocated to the North Cascades, where goats are native but surviving in low numbers. An additional 10 kids were taken to Northwest Trek Wildlife Park for distribution to animal sanctuaries and zoos. Seven mortalities occurred during capture and four goats were lethally removed.
This year’s operations bring the total number of goats removed from the Olympic Mountains, both Park and National Forest, to 326. That is close to half the estimated Olympic population of 725. Next year, 2020, will see one more two-week removal operation, which will combine live capture by helicopter with lethal removal. Following the summer hiking season, ground-based shooting by staff and trained volunteers will commence. Ground and aerial lethal removal will continue in 2021.
A century of grazing, wallowing and trampling by non-native goats has taken an immense toll on alpine ecosystems in the Olympics. The Park’s 2018 Mountain Goat Management Plan called for removal of all non-native goats. OPA has advocated for goat removal since the mid-1970s. We are gratified to see another successful year of operations. We send congratulations to the Park Service, Forest Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Tribes, and the dozens of volunteers who have been involved.
Please click the image below to view John Gussman’s video of the capture.
First Year of Mountain Goat Removal a Success
Following completion of Olympic National Park’s Mountain Goat Management Plan in May 2018, the first period of mountain goat capture and translocation took place in September. It was a remarkable success. During a two-week period, 115 goats were captured by helicopter and crew and removed from the Olympic population. Of these, 98 were medically examined, inoculated and translocated to the northern Cascade Mountains, where goats are native but surviving in low numbers. Six juveniles, which could not be paired with their mothers, were transferred to Northwest Trek Wildlife Park.
Two more two-week capture periods are planned for this year. Capture and translocation may continue into 2020 depending on the results of this year’s efforts. The agencies hope to capture from 325 to 375 goats or about half of the estimated population. Remaining goats will be lethally removed over the following years.
This has been a tremendous multi-agency restoration effort involving the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Tribes, as well as 77 volunteers. It was a significant start on removal of an estimated population of 725 goats on the Olympic Peninsula. OPA has advocated for non-native goat removal since the mid-1970s. We are gratified to see it finally underway and send congratulations to everyone involved.
Park’s Final Plan Will Remove Non-native Goats from Olympics
Culminating a four-year planning process and four-decade effort on the part of conservationists, Olympic National Park released its Mountain Goat Management Plan Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on May 4, 2018. The plan calls for the removal of non-native mountain goats from the Olympics using a variety of methods over a three-to-five-year period. OPA considers non-native goats one of the most serious ecological threats to the Park and we support this effort wholeheartedly.
Removal will consist of live capture and translocation of a large number goats to the Cascades followed by lethal shooting. Importantly, the National Park Service is cooperating with the U.S. Forest Service and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to remove goats from all jurisdictions in the Olympics. The plan will also help restore native mountain goat populations in national forests in the North Cascades that have declined due to decades of overhunting.
The FEIS calls for a two-to-three-year period of live capture and transfer of goats to several wilderness areas in the Cascades. WDFW will conduct transfer and relocation operations. When relocation goals have been met or safety issues limit further live-capture, remaining goats will be removed lethally utilizing trained and certified volunteer hunters as well as aerial shooting from helicopters. Operations will take place during two two-week periods in summer and fall each year and will require periodic trail closures. An extended period of monitoring and maintenance control will follow.
Surveys indicate that the goat population in the Olympics is increasing at an alarming eight percent per year. A live capture effort in the 1980s reduced goat numbers by more than half, but the current population is rapidly approaching 1980s numbers.
Live capture operations began in September 2018. Lethal removal could begin later in 2019. Periodic closing of specific areas in the park will occur to allow for operations.
Olympic’s stunning alpine zone, with its unique associations of rare and endemic plants and wildlife, evolved without the presence of large rocky-outcrop herbivores through the two million years of the Pleistocene. It’s time to return the high Olympics to their natural, wild and untrammelled condition.
To read OPA’s comment letter on the DEIS, click here.
Draft Mountain Goat Management Plan Proposes to Remove Non-native Goats by Live-capture and Translocation, Followed by Shooting.
Updated Aug. 2017
The National Park Service, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and the Washington State Dept. of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), has released its Mountain Goat Management Plan draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). The plan sets the course for eliminating exotic goats from the Olympics and will help restore struggling native goat populations in the North Cascades.
The plan’s “preferred alternative” (D) combines a period of live capture and relocation with lethal removal of non-native goats by shooting. Both will be accomplished over a three- to five-year period followed by an extended period of maintenance to deal with recurring goats. OPA fully supports this compromise approach with the ultimate goal of eliminating all goats from the Olympics.
OPA considers non-native mountain goats to be one of the most acute management problems facing the park. A growing goat population of eight percent per year, coupled with increasing impacts on Olympic’s alpine plant communities and the implicit danger goats pose to hikers, demands decisive action. This plan is a critical step.
Background
Mountain goats are not native to the Olympics; they were introduced by hunting interests in the 1920s before the park was created. With the absence of natural predators and in the mild coastal climate of the Olympics, their numbers soared. By the 1980s the population reached more than 1,100 animals. Destructive impacts by goats on sensitive alpine and subalpine environments from feeding, trampling and wallowing became both visible and profound. A live-capture and translocation program, begun in the 1980s, reduced the population significantly. A 1990s planning effort, which proposed to remove remaining goats by aerial shooting, was placed on hold.
Findings from the park’s earlier draft EIS and subsequent studies and reviews have confirmed that:
- Goats are not native to the Olympics.
- Even small numbers of goats do measurable damage to alpine plants and soils.
- Goat impacts on Olympic marmots and other endemic and sensitive alpine animals remain unknown.
- Chemical contraception is not a viable means of eliminating goats.
- Habituated non-native goats can pose a danger to park visitors.
- Public hunting of park goats is not a feasible solution as all hunting is illegal in ONP.
The Draft Plan
The draft plan considers a range of alternatives including: no-action, live-capture and translocation, and lethal removal. The preferred alternative combines live-capture and translocation with lethal removal. This option addresses the need to protect park resources and visitor safety while helping to restore reduced mountain goat populations in their native habitats in Washington’s North Cascades. OPA fully endorses this approach as long as the goal is complete removal of goats from all Olympic National Park and Forest lands. We remain committed to a workable solution that will result in removal of all non-native goats from the Olympic Mountains.
What You Can Do
Help preserve the Olympics’ stunning alpine habitats for the native plants and animals that have made it their home for millennia. Please comment on Olympic National Park’s Mountain Goat Management Plan. Support the preferred alternative (Alternative D), and urge planners to develop a final plan that will eliminate all non-native goats form the Olympics. [The comment period closed Oct. 2017.]
You can also write the park superintendent at:
Olympic National Park, 600 E Park Ave., Port Angeles, WA 98362-6757
To review the Olympic National Park and WDFW PowerPoint program presented at the August public information meetings on the plan, click here.
To view OPA’s comment letter, click here.
To view OPA’s scoping letter to Olympic National Park on the Mountain Goat Management Plan/EIS, click here.
To view a brief history of mountain goat management at Olympic, click here.
To review OPA’s 1995 detailed analysis of non-native mountain goats in the Olympics, click here.
Watch for future alerts and postings from OPA.