I visited with a sheep biologist about this three years ago, at that time he was trying to convince the G&F to transplant goats into an area in the Big Horns and one or two other spots in the west central part of the state. But more and more is coming to light about the goats displacing sheep. Even though they seem to survive where sheep haven't. So I doubt a transplant will ever happen.

JACKSON, Wyo. -- Non-native mountain goats have gained a foothold in parts of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and could threaten native bighorn sheep, including the Teton Range bighorn sheep herd, biologists say.

Researchers from Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have joined forces to study the hardy, aggressive invaders, which have likely begun breeding in the Teton Range.

"They don't get much attention," said Bob Garrott, director of Montana State University's Fish and Wildlife Ecology and Management Program, and leader of the research effort.

"Learning more about their population ecology and spacial ecology can help inform management and conservation."

Garrott and his colleagues are capturing mountain goats and outfitting them with two different collars. One collar contains a Global Positioning System device that records the goat's position every six hours for two years.

When that falls off, another activates to give wildlife research less specific data for the next four years.

Researchers will gather data from 12 collared goats captured in the Palisades Range along the Wyoming-Idaho border southwest of Jackson Hole. They will be looking for the types of habitat goats use, whether they have offspring and how long they survive. That data will then be compared to bighorn sheep research.

"The study areas that we have are the Palisades, where we have goats and no sheep, and the Gros Ventre ... where we have sheep but no goats," Garrott said.

Researchers also plan to capture both goats and sheep in the Cody area, where the two species occupy the same mountain ranges. In Montana, researchers will study both goats and sheep around Gardiner.

Mountain goats were introduced into mountain ranges in the region, including the Palisades Range, by wildlife managers in Idaho and Montana a few decades ago, "and they're doing quite well and expanding their range," Garrott said.

Since then, the goats have popped up in various locations around Jack son Hole, Wyoming Game and Fish wildlife biologist Doug Brimeyer said.

"Right now where we're seeing them is in the Teton Range north of Highway 22, and we get periodic observations of them in the Gros Ventre mountains and the Teton Wilderness," he said.

One was photographed on Fremont Peak in the Wind River range two years ago.

The problem is that mountain goats seem to like the same habitat as bighorn sheep.

"There can be direct competition for food in the alpine and subalpine environments," Garrott said.

Wyoming Game and Fish habitat biologist Aly Courtemanch, agreed.

She studied the Teton Range bighorn sheep herd as a graduate student at the University of Wyoming.

"In the Tetons, the bighorn sheep winter habitat is a relatively few isolated wind-swept slopes at high elevation, because they've lost their migration," she said. "They're already surviving on this marginal winter habitat up there.

"It's reasonable to expect that mountain goats, if they became established, would out-compete bighorn sheep for that very limited winter range."

And, when the two species go head-to-head, mountain goats probably win, Garrott said.

"There can be displacement of one species by the other," he said. "It looks like goats are much more aggressive and much more protective of their individual space.

"They're less social, they're more aggressive, and they have a set of dagger-like horns. It looks like sheep will defer to the goats."

Mountain goats also carry many of the same diseases and parasites as bighorn sheep, but may be less susceptible to the pathogens, Garrott said.

The issue is of particular interest in Grand Teton National Park, said Steve Cain, the park's senior wildlife biologist, and Sarah Dewey, a wildlife biologist who is spearheading the park's mountain goat research.

"Since the late '70s, we've had 74 reports (of mountain goats)," Cain said. "Thirty-eight occurred in the park."

"For 2011, we had eight sightings reported, and they totaled 19 (animals)," Cain said. "Some of those are likely duplicate observations.

"We also had sightings that included adult goats with kids and the number of kids ranged from one to three. "There's maybe six to 10 goats, but that's a little bit of a stab in the dark."

Beginning in 2010, Park Service officials began getting regular reports of goats in Grand Teton, Dewey said.

"That suggests to us that a population is beginning to establish here in the park," she said.

Still, for all the concerns, there's no way to know how the mountain goats will affect bighorn sheep, say Cain, Garrott and other biologists.

Only more research can provide the final answer.

Park Service policy dictates that non-native species be eliminated.

"The park is currently in the very beginning stages of developing a management plan for goats, and we will likely look at several different alternatives," Cain said. "That would include doing nothing, monitoring them and actually removing them, and we would look at different techniques for removing them.

"We would prefer to do it in a way that's a little more transparent and work with people that might be interested in the issue," Cain said.

Very interesting post. I was one of two IDF&G biologist-Cos that took the first two Mtn goat transplants into the Plaisades Creek drainage in the late 60's. We took them in on horse back and released them just below Lower Palisades Lake.

465H&H

I don't understand why mountain goats get treated like 3rd string junior varsity bench warmers by wildlife agencies.

To me wildsheep are a rich mans game, most folks can afford to hunt mountain goats guided in Alaska, BC or if they are lucky and draw a tag in the lower 48.

Bighorns for some reason have a undeserved cult status.

9 times out of 10 you have to walk past a bighorn sheep to hunt mountain goats.

The only goat on the planet that people show any respect is the markhor. Really a sad deal.

If the parky fags kill decide to transplant all the goats in Jellystone someplace else, I hope they transplant them instead of shooting them.

Wyoming needs to act quick and make it a felony for any government agent to manage wildlife in the state of Wyoming.

Some similar management decisions are being made here in CO where goats are spreading into traditional sheep habitat.

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
Some similar management decisions are being made here in CO where goats are spreading into traditional sheep habitat.

True statement. The DOW has greatly increased goat tags in some areas. One of them is G13. I took a real good billy there in 2001 and my brother drew that tag 2 years ago. When I was hunting it, there were very few hunters and lots of goats. When I went there with my brother, there were goat hunters everywhere and the goats had fled to areas where it would have been impossible to recover them after being shot.

We went down to Buena Vista and went to the DOW office there to see why this was and the senior biologist told us they had increased the tags by almost 400% because the goats were competing too heavily with the sheep. My brother never filled his tag. The only shot he had was at a nanny with horns about 5 inches long and he wanted a billy. Bad thing is, his odds of drawing the tag again are pretty slim.

One reason in Wyoming that they take a back seat, is that there is no definitive proof they were native to Wyoming. So they get treated like the whitetail. It's a shame the wolves are not treated the same also.

Mountain goats are not native to Wyoming. Both populations were introduced.

Pre-1970 there were large numbers of sheep and goats in the Middle Fork of the Salmon River drainage of Idaho(Frank Church Wilderness Area). The goats have all but disappeared but the sheep are still going strong. That doesn't fit the mold given here, does it?

465H&H

Sheep are worth more money to the state.

That's really all that matters.

quote:

Pre-1970 there were large numbers of sheep and goats in the Middle Fork of the Salmon River drainage of Idaho(Frank Church Wilderness Area). The goats have all but disappeared but the sheep are still going strong. That doesn't fit the mold given here, does it?

That is interesting.

In fact you used to be able to see goats and sheep on the road at Shoup Idaho.

I heard one Park service woman say that Mt goats in the park were no different than a Chinese ring neck pheasant or a Hungarian Grey partridge. I said except they are native to north america. She replied they have no business in Yellowstone. I told her she was a Forrest Nazi and I never went back to stay Yellowstone. Ron

quote:

She replied they have no business in Yellowstone.

Neither do wolves!

Elmer Keith spoke of goats and sheep on the Salmon
I'll have to check the date but thinking
late 40's

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:
Pre-1970 there were large numbers of sheep and goats in the Middle Fork of the Salmon River drainage of Idaho(Frank Church Wilderness Area). The goats have all but disappeared but the sheep are still going strong. That doesn't fit the mold given here, does it?

465H&H

Burros in the Panamint Range are the other prototype...

Plenty of Sheep on the road down below Shoup as of yesterday. Goats are higher up on the cliffs.