Tag: Mountain Goats

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Goats in the Mountains

Walking to Exercise the Pack Goats Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer
Walking to Exercise the Pack Goats
Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer
When a family friend recently returned from a big hunting trip, he mentioned he’d taken along his new pack goats.

“Pack goats?” I perked up at the thought of seeing goats on a hiking trail in the mountains.

“They’re very friendly,” he added.

Deviance from Walking to Exercise the Pack Goats Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer
Deviance from Walking to Exercise the Pack Goats
Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer
A domestic goat is very different from a wild mountain goat. It’s very unlikely a hiker will ever see a wild goat because there are less than 2,000 scattered about in a few small herds in Utah. These herds can be traced back to the forty wild goats brought here from Olympic National Park in Washington beginning in 1967. These mountain goats have 2 distinctive layers of thick white hair and 2 black backward-slanting horns.

Mountain goats keep to the high mountains. If a hiker sees them at all, it’s most likely on a rocky ledge. A mountain goat is a great climber that has been clocked going up 75 vertical feet in 60 seconds. A rocky ledge is a good place to escape predators like bears and wolves. Unfortunately, it’s no defense against eagles, that has been known to swoop down and carry off a small kid.

About 10,000 years ago, villagers in Asia first domesticated the goat. To this day, in some parts of the world, owning a goat can make a big difference for a family. Bernice’s Goat is a beautiful children’s book that tells the true story of a nine-year-old girl in Uganda whose mother receives a gift of a goat from the Heifer International nonprofit. The goat soon gives birth to twins and the milk just flows. There is enough for the baby goats and Bernice’s five younger brothers and sisters…and still enough to sell a little to the neighbors. Her mother can now pay school fees, and Bernice gets her deepest wish. She is able to go to school.

Back in Cache Valley, I wasted no time inviting myself over to meet my friend’s new goats. The goats rushed up to the fence and seemed as curious about me as I was about them.

“Can we go for a walk?” I asked.

Soon we were headed up a nearby trailhead. Pack goats need a lot of exercise to keep in shape. This was just an easy workout. On a hunting trip, the goats wear a pack saddle, and each one will carry about 40 lbs.

By now I was really intrigued and bought a copy of John Mionczynski’s book, The Pack Goat. According to the author, a goat that has been bonded with humans when young will grow into a strong, sure-footed, trustworthy companion in the wilderness. John now runs a pack goat business that accompanies groups on overnight camping trips. His favorite goat is Julio.

Julio will watch everyone bedding down for the night. Then he will saunter over to someone and politely stand next to their sleeping bag. Slowly and gently, he’ll kneel down. Then he’ll lean over until he is comfortably snuggled against the sleeper.

“If you’ve never slept with a goat on a cold night [on a camping trip],” John writes. “You don’t know what you’ve been missing.”

I closed the book and sighed. I had one more thing to add to my bucket list.

This is Mary Heers, and I’m Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Photos: Courtesy Mary Heers,
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Friend Weller, Utah Public Radio upr.org, and audio Courtesy & © Anderson, Howe and Wakeman
Text: Mary Heers, https://cca.usu.edu/files/awards/art-and-mary-heers-citation.pdf
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah, Mary Heers’ Wild About Utah Postings

Mionczynski, John, The Pack Goat, Reavis, January 1, 2004, https://www.amazon.com/Pack-Goat-John-Mionczynski/dp/0976255405

[We oppose introduction of non-native] Mountain Goats in the Bear River Range, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/our-projects/advocacy/mountain-goats-in-the-bear-river-range/

McBrier, Page(Author), Lohstoeter, Lori(Illustrator), Beatrice’s Goat, Aladdin, Reprint July 1, 2004, https://www.amazon.com/Beatrices-Goat-Page-McBrier/dp/0689869908

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Mountain Goats in Northern Utah?

Mountain goats in northern Utah? Mountain Goats, Mount Timpanogos Wilderness Area, Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Mountain Goats
Mount Timpanogos Wilderness Area
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Mid-September, 2016, while rambling in a seldom-traveled area of the Mount Naomi Wilderness, my son Nate asked, “Dad, what’s the coolest animal you’ve ever seen in the Bear River Mountains?”

“Oh, all the regular creatures you’d expect,” I said. “Deer, elk, moose, coyotes, porcupines, lots of cat tracks, and a couple of badgers.”

We took a few more steps and I glanced at the cliff bands above. Atop a limestone crag was the unmistakable massive shoulders and white wool of a Rocky Mountain goat.

“Uhhhh,” I stammered and pointed, “THAT is actually the coolest animal I’ve ever seen in the Bear River Range.”

We laughed at the timing as the goat nonchalantly climbed out of sight.

The previous spring I spotted a mountain goat on a rock outcrop on the south side of Highway 89, not far from Brigham City. It was absolutely a mountain goat—Oreamnos Americanus. If there was a mountain goat in Box Elder Canyon, then they certainly must be in the Wellsvilles. It is logical that Willard Peak goats would move north.

But this goat in the heart of the Bear River Range was perplexing. Where had it come from? Had it wandered south from Star Valley or worked its’ way northeast from Willard Peak? Either way is a lot of ground to cover where a mountain goat would be vulnerable to predators.

Mountain goats thrive in the highest and harshest alpine environments. They have a two-layer coat—hollow, longer strands of polar-bear-like hair that grow up to 8 inches long and dense wool beneath. They can subsist on moss and lichen. Specialized hooves enable them to climb places predators can’t follow. Their best defense is their climbing skills. Cliffs provide safety, but that comes with a caveat—the leading causes of death of mountain goats are avalanches, rock fall, and, well, falling.

When I returned home that day, I called the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) and asked a slew of questions. The previous year there had been several sightings of a solitary mountain goat near Cinnamon Creek, then in Logan Canyon, and then our sighting further north. There were also sightings in the Wellsvilles. In the years since, several reports trickled in of mountain goats on Cherry Peak. Last spring, a goat carcass was found up Blacksmith Fork Canyon in an avalanche run-out zone.

Mountain Goat Looking Over the Cliff Edge Courtesy & Copyright, Eric Newell, Photographer
Mountain Goat Looking Over the Cliff Edge
Courtesy & Copyright, Eric Newell, Photographer

In 1967 six Rocky Mountain goats were transplanted from Olympic National Park to the Lone Peak Wilderness. Since then another 270 were released in various other locations. Utah goat populations peaked in 2011 around 2,100 animals. Interestingly, the Willard Peak herd has declined from around 200 to about 30 goats.

The 2018 Utah DWR Management Plan states:

“A number of records exist that document the historical presence of mountain goats in Utah prior to reintroduction…. However, there are not as many documented records as with some other wildlife native to Utah, which has led to some controversy about their native status…. They are certainly native to the Northern Rocky Mountains and neighboring states to Utah. UDWR’s position is that mountain goat habitat exists in Utah and that mountain goats are a valuable part of our wildlife resource diversity and are a legitimate part of our modern Utah faunal landscape.”

The Bridgerland Audubon Society’s stance is that mountain goats are a non-native species that may damage endemic plants. Fellow Wild About Utah contributor Jack Green, wrote a 2020 opinion piece opposing the introduction of Oreamnos Americanus in the Bear River Mountains and suggested focusing on restoring bighorn sheep populations instead.

One complication is that bighorns are more susceptible to disease from established domesticated sheep herds than mountain goats are. And for perspective, domestic sheep grazing has far greater impacts on habitat than a small herd of mountain goats ever will.

The Utah DWR has no plans to “introduce” goats into the vicinity because they are already here. Biologists are conducting surveys to understand the impacts goats have on endemic plant species to inform management decisions.

No matter how it all shakes out for the few solitary mountain goats that have worked their way into northern Utah, it is a thrill to watch these impressive climbers roam the wildest and craggiest portions of the mountains—with blasé confidence.

I am Eric Newell, and I am Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Images: Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright Friend Weller, Retired Engineer, Utah Public Radio, https://www.upr.org/people/friend-weller
Text: Eric Newell, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University
Additional Reading: Eric Newell & Lyle Bingham, Bridgerland Audubon

Additional Reading

WildAboutUtah pieces by Eric Newell, https://wildaboututah.org/author/eric-newell/

Bridgerland Audubon Society, Rocky Mountain Goats in the Bear River Range, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/our-projects/advocacy/mountain-goats-in-the-bear-river-range/

Chadwick, Douglas, A Beast the Color of Winter, Sierra Club Books, 1983, https://www.amazon.com/Beast-Color-Winter-Mountain-Observed/dp/0803264216/

Chadwick, Douglas, Darling Guardians of the Heights, National Geographic, Vol. 154, NO. 2, August, 1978 Available with subscription through https://archive.nationalgeographic.com/

Green, Jack, Locals Can Still Halt Harmful Mount Goat Introduction, Herald Journal, July 24, 2020 https://www.hjnews.com/opinion/columns/soapbox-locals-can-still-halt-harmful-mountain-goat-introduction/article_e85f7536-5201-55d7-b766-f089eb57d7ed.html

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Utah Mountain Goat State Management Plan, https://wildlife.utah.gov/pdf/bg/mtn_goat_plan.pdf

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Where to See Mountain Goats in Utah this Spring, https://wildlife.utah.gov/news/utah-wildlife-news/1384-where-to-see-mountain-goats-this-spring.html