WA Mountain Goats Translocation To Begin For Population Growth

WASHINGTON -- National Park Service officials have begun an effort to transport mountain goats from Olympic National Park to the northern Cascade Mountains in an effort to re-establish the population of the species.

Earlier this year, park officials released a plan to remove an estimated 725 mountain lions from the Olympic Peninsula.

.“Mountain goat relocation will allow these animals to reoccupy historical range areas in the Cascades and increase population viability,” said Jesse Plumage, a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Forest Service.

While some mountain goat populations in the north Cascades have recovered since the 1990s, the species is still absent from many areas of its historic range, officials said.

“The translocation effort will relieve issues with non-native mountain goats in the Olympics while bolstering depleted herds in the northern Cascades,” said Olympic National Park Superintendent Sarah Creachbaum. “Mountain goats cause significant impacts to the park ecosystem as well as public safety concerns.”

Area tribes lending support to the translocation plan in the Cascades include the Lummi, Muckleshoot, Sauk-Suiattle, Stillaguamish, Suquamish, Swinomish, Tulalip, and Upper Skagit tribes

For more information about mountain goats in Washington State, see WDFW’s website at https://wdfw.wa.gov/living/mountain_goats.html.

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