Mountain Goat reduction plan open for comment
The National Park Service (NPS) is accepting public comments through February 15 on a plan to remove mountain goats from Grand Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway.
NPS is considering three alternatives. The first would allow the current goat population to continue to be monitored with no active efforts to reduce it. The second would lethally remove them from the park using aerial and ground-based “techniques.” The third option is capture and translocation in which lethal methods would be used to reduce mountain goat population.
The preferred alternative is to use a combination of capture and translocation and lethal removal methods to remove the mountain goat population as quickly as possible.
Right now, there are about 100 animals in the park. However, they are not native to the area and compete with native Bighorn Sheep for habitat. There are about 80 Bighorn Sheep in the park.
The native Bighorn are highly susceptible to pathogens and disease transmission.
The mountain goats in the park are likely from a population introduced into the Teton Range outside the park in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. Since then, the park service said they have established a breeding population that is rapidly growing. Biologists believe the goats could threaten the existence of the native Teton Range bighorn sheep herd.
A public comment website was taken offline during the government shutdown. It has now been restored and the comment period extended to February 15. You can access the site here.
