Park seeks sharpshooters for goat culling

OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Only the hardiest groups of backcountry enthusiasts — those able to traverse winding trail, steep landscapes and shoot accurately from long distances — are encouraged to apply for volunteer expeditions to cull the remaining non-native mountain goat population from Olympic National Park.

Experienced backcountry trackers and skilled sharpshooters are sought for the upcoming lethal removal portion of Olympic National Park’s Mountain Goat Management Plan.

Those interested have until Friday to form groups of between three and six people and apply to participate in one of three removal sessions of the park’s non-native mountain goat population set between Sept. 9 and Oct. 16.

Patti Happe, Olympic National Park wildlife branch chief, is leading the volunteer selection process.

“It’s not a hunt, we want to emphasize that; it’s a culling operation,” Happe said.

“All of the sites are extremely difficult terrain to access, so I’m going to be very, very selective about who we actually assign to this. My fear is we have volunteers head out, get injured and we are having to launch a bunch of search and rescues. So only the most highly skilled at hunting ungulates in difficult terrain and experienced backcountry backpackers will be screened.

“At minimum, volunteers must be capable of hiking 15 miles a day or more and carrying a 50-pound pack.”

U.S. residents ages 18 and older may apply.

Happe said a scoring criteria will be used to filter group applications and those who have hunted or recreated in the Olympics during fall weather will receive added weight.

Goat capture

Mountain goat capture by helicopter and relocation to native habitat on U.S. Forest Service land in the North Cascades began in the late summer of 2018 with the hope of rounding up about half of the park’s estimated mountain goat population of 725.

Since September 2018, more than 300 mountain goats have been captured and 275 relocated, according to Happe.

An additional two-week live capture and translocation period is planned to round up an additional amount of animals between July 27 and Aug. 9.

“If the summer capture operation goes like last summer we would be at 80 or 100 animals and that would put us well over the goal of capturing half of the population,” Happe said. “We’ve met that objective and it will be time to switch to lethal removal in September and October.

Given births, Happe expects between 200 and 400 goats will remain after the summer capture to be culled.

If mountain goats remain after the volunteer cull operations, aerial eradication of the animals will occur.

Management plan

The park’s Mountain Goat Management Plan was released in May 2018 after four years of work that featured numerous public comment opportunities.

The plan calls for lethal removal of the remainder of the park’s population of goats once live capture and relocation efforts have become constrained by difficulties accessing the remote terrain coupled with the financial costs associated with using more helicopter flight time to search and capture the animals.

The plan’s intent is to allow park officials to reduce or eliminate the environmental damage done by non-native mountain goats and the public safety risks associated with their presence on the Olympic Peninsula.

Happe said the move to relocate the mountain goats was made due to two primary factors.

“The goats are a non-native species and were introduced by a sportsman’s club in the 1920s,” Happe said. “They have an impact on the park’s natural ecosystem and there is a National Park Service-wide mandate to return parks to a more natural ecosystem.

“The Olympics also are a minerally-deficient range lacking the salts goats search for to survive.”

The goats have adapted to their surroundings, learning to get salts from human sources — urine deposits left near trails by hikers being a popular nutrient source. In turn, the goats have become dangerous to humans and in one tragic instance, deadly.

Bob Boardman of Port Angeles was fatally gored in 2010 by a mountain goat while hiking Klahhane Ridge in Olympic National Park.

The animals are native to the Cascade Range, which lost much of its mountain goat population due to overharvesting.

“We have a dual mandate — returning the park to a more natural state and providing a population of native goats back to the Cascades,” Happe said.

The effort is a partnership between the National Park Service, state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Forest Service.

Volunteer checklist

Potential volunteers must meet a bevy of requirements to participate in the project and will be required to demonstrate their suitability in a number of areas.

This is not a solo tracking scenario; volunteers must apply in groups of three to six.

All volunteers must possess a high-level of physical fitness, experience navigating off trail in extensive mountain wilderness, a history of hunting mountain goats, sheep or other ungulates and marksmanship.

At least one group member will be tasked with completing a firearms proficiency test by grouping three of five shots in an 8-inch circle at a distance of 200 yards.

Those selected will be required to supply their own firearm a minimum of .24 caliber and bottle-necked cartridges containing non-lead ammunition.

Volunteers will be assigned to one of 15 goat removal areas ranging across a wide swath of the park from the Quinault River area on the West End to the Mount Constance area on the park’s eastern boundary.

All areas are difficult to access. Pack animals may be used in some instances to ferry supplies to cull locations.

“None of these areas are close to human habitation,” Happe said. She added that any person or group seeking a separate backcountry hiking permit will be notified of the culling operations when they sign up for their hikes.

“We are not going to send anybody to Hurricane Hill, the 7 Lakes Basin or Klahhane Ridge,” Happe said. “Those areas have seen their goat populations effectively removed. We are not closing any parts of the park.

“For any other hikers headed to the backcountry it will be analogous to staying on U.S. Forest Service lands during hunting season.”

Citizen science

Project participants will be tasked with recording data on all goats encountered and shot and with collecting biological samples from all goats that can be safely accessed.

Using their discretion, volunteers will be allowed to remove and retain meat and other materials. They will be asked to dispose of remaining materials following park service guidelines.

Volunteer groups will be assigned to one of three removal sessions: Sept. 9-19, Sept. 22-Oct. 2 and Oct. 5-16. Each session starts with a mandatory training day, followed by up to 10 days in the field.

Applications are open through Friday and the opportunity will close as soon as 30 qualified groups apply, or on April 24, whichever comes first.

It’s expected that 18 groups will be selected in total — six groups for each of the three planned hunts.

For more information on the project, or to volunteer, visit https://www.nps.gov/olym/index.htm or email Happe at patti_happe@nps.gov.

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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-406-0674 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.