Why no goats on Hood??

[adamschneider]

Sullivan mentioned them being introduced into the gorge some where around 2005. Im not sure if that ever happened or if it didnt end well, but here is the link"

http://www.oregonhiking.com/oregon-adve ... creek-hike

Based on the fact that every 2005 headline on the topic says something like "mountain goats to be introduced," I'm pretty sure it never happened... and Sullivan jumped the gun by printing that.

[EDIT:] Further research turns up a 2011 lawsuit entitled "FRIENDS OF THE COLUMBIA GORGE, INC.; and IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS, Plaintiffs, v. ROY ELICKER, DIRECTOR, OREGON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE; MARLA RAE, CHAIR, OREGON FISH AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION, and UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE, Defendants." The court order includes this text:

Curtis Melcher, ODFW Deputy Director, has stated by Declaration (#194) that ODFW and OFWC do not intend to release Rocky Mountain goats within the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area during the current ten-year period governed by OFWC's Rocky Mountain goat statewide management plan, which expires in December 2013, and also do not anticipate proposing any future releases of Rocky Mountain goats within the National Scenic Area within the foreseeable future thereafter.


So apparently FotG (among others) was not happy about the goat idea, and it was shelved.

[Waffle Stomper]

Those were definitely not mountain goats; they were most likely bighorn sheep. A herd that's managed by ODFW lives in the Lower Deschutes area, and they're occasionally seen from I-84.

It seemed unlikely but she was insistent that they were white. Since I wasn't there who knows.

I did find this which was also interesting. They might have once roamed there at the time of Lewis and Clark. (some artistic license taken in a couple of the photos LOL)
http://wyeastblog.org/2011/03/21/return ... tain-goat/

[vibramhead]

Mountain goats are NOT native to the Olympics, though; they were introduced there in the 1920s, and they're a bit of an ecological problem.

Yes, they'e an ecological problem in the Olympics, and sometimes they kill hikers.

[retired jerry]

Mountain Sheep are sort of white:

[Waffle Stomper]

Mountain Sheep are sort of white:

119resize.jpg

Butt, butt, butt . . .

[BigBear]

Re: Goats being native in the Olympics. They were native to the Olympics. The earliest sighting of goats was during a USFG mapping of the mountain range by William G. Steele (founder of Mazamas). The Mountaineers have researched this topic and have a pamphlet with all the scientific citations supporting this first sighting. They were reintroduced after being hunted to extinction in the Olympics, and that is why there is a debate on this issue.

Mountain goats had been sighted in the Columbia Gorge near Nesmith Point at the turn of the 20th century as is evident by photos at the time.

[adamschneider]

Mountain goats had been sighted in the Columbia Gorge near Nesmith Point at the turn of the 20th century as is evident by photos at the time.

But if there are unambiguous photos, why is there even a debate? Has anyone actually seen these photos?

[Limey]

I worked in The Dalles from 1985 to Jan '91. On my commute there was a very small herd of mountain goats on the cliffs above Rowena. I didn't get pics but I did see them with binocs. By the time I quit that job, the herd count was down to two. Never did see any kids so I assume they weren't reproducing. It was kind of a sad day when I drove to The Dalles and didn't see any. Haven't seen any since probably 1993.

[R11]

Here's a list of the transplant history for the state up to 2002:

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/man ... n_1203.pdf


ron

[ski]

BigBear:
Respectfully, you have been misinformed regarding the non-native Mountain Goats on the Olympic Peninsula.
Olympic National Park did an exhaustive and comprehensive study and released a paper on the matter, which examined in excruciating detail each and every instance of historic reports of "goats" on the Olympic Peninsula, from the early voyages of George Vancouver and Charles Wilkes and early Spanish explorers up to the present day. Each and every one was found to be false, caused in great part by mistranslations (Spanish to English and 18th-century English to modern-day English) or the inability to correctly identify the native fauna.
The goats were introduced to the Peninsula in the late 1920s by sportsmen so they would have big game "trophy" animals to hunt.
There is no "debate" among the scientific community, only among laypeople who insist on perpetuating a myth.
Olympic National Park is currently in the process of preparing an EIS on non-native Mountain Goat management, which I believe is still in the scoping process. Off the top of my head I'm not sure if the comment period has ended, but you can still submit comment to them.

Apologies for not being able at the moment to cite the URL for the above cited paper- it's in another computer here that died some time ago. If you get in touch with ONP's wildlife biologist Patti Happe she might be able to direct you to the paper.

Thanks!