Olympic NP to Capture, Kill Goats this Summer

The park's new management plan calls for relocating some mountain goats to the Cascades and shooting the rest.

Author:: Backpacker Contributors
Publish date:: Jun 20, 2018

Mountain goats on the Olympic Peninsula — Mountain goats on the Olympic Peninsula
U.S. Forest Service-Pacific Northwest Region

Officials will begin rounding up mountain goats at Olympic National Park this summer for relocation to the North Cascades, where they are native but populations are low. The goats that aren't captured will be killed. Biologists report that mountain goat populations are growing quickly in the Olympics, where the goats are not a native species.

goat

A new management plan proposes killing or relocating the park's population of mountain goats.

mountain goat

The population of mountain goats has gone from 20 to the thousands to 300 to 623 at last count. The NPS wants to airlift them out.

olympic mule

The animals broke free from their winter pasture and trotted through town before police helped round them up.

elwha

Repeat floods and rockslides have closed multiple roads into the national park in recent months.

neighborhood watch

Rangers caught Alexander Turney after a string of burglaries and vehicle vandalizations in fall 2017.

stormking

A 21-year-old Oregon man fell while descending Mt. Storm King.

olympic discovery

The woman was attacked while running on the Olympic Peninsula's path last weekend.

hurricane ridge

This year's abundant snowfall means plenty of water for irrigation, towns, and salmon.

olympic national forest

The 24-year-old, stationed on the USS Nimitz, disappeared after a dayhike near Sequim.

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