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HomeMy Public PortalAboutWildlife: Mountain GoatsMt' n - a/o ( 9 7 / o Z 14P3 Mountain goats can't avoid intruders Recreationists climb higher and higher, endanger the tired, reclusive animals Special to The Idaho Statesman/Courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service Mountain goats live off their fat reserves in the winter and have very little energy to spare. The U.S. Forest Service is urging win- ter recreationists in the Ketchum area to avoid mountain goats to prevent the animals from being stressed. Tips for avoiding goats > Get information on mountain goat hot spots from snowmobile and ski shops in the Ketchum area, or from the Sawtooth Na- tional Recreation Area office, 7 miles north of Ketchum. )- Check at trailheads for signs warning of mountain goat terrain. > If traveling where mountain goats are known to live, use binoculars to scan mountainsides. If you see a mountain goat, leave the area. > Mountain goats should have at least a 3/8- to 1/2-mile buffer zone between them and people. Pete Zimowsky/The Idaho Statesman Nappy Neaman, Hailey, uses a spotting scope to watch a mountain goat from Idaho 75. The ooat is on a ledge in the Boulder Mountains, which are reflected in the scope's lens. The Idaho Statesman 2/26/97 Page #2 of 2 by Pete Zimowsky he Idaho Statesman Mountain goats, which live in the now on Idaho's highest cliffs, no longer an hide from skiers and snowmobilers. The Forest Service is launching a pro - ,ram in the Ketchum area to keep the sinter- stressed animals apart from ackcountry recreationists, for fear the oats may suffer or die from such en- ounters. Idaho has about 3,000 mountain oats, including several hundred around 'etchum. "The goats are going to suffer," said ;d Cannady, a backcountry ranger with he Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Mountain goats eat very little in the Tinter so they have just enough energy D survive. Expending energy by fleeing could kill hem. "It's unhealthy for goats to move in the rintertime," Cannady said. Technology and population are behind he problem. New snowshoes, cross - auntry skis and snowmobiles enable eople to move farther and higher into he backcountry — into the Pioneer, loulder, Smoky, White Cloud and Saw - )oth mountains. "They're going places where they auldn't go before," Cannady said. Cannady has seen snowmobile racks as high as 11,000 feet — Learly as high as the state's Highest mountain, 12,655 -foot dount Borah. Besides equipment advances, e number of people using back - ountry areas around Ketchum as increased about 10 percent the past year. The first step for the Forest ervice is to pinpoint goat herds. The Sawtooth Wildlife Council working with the U.S. Forest ervice on the project. College terns also are helping by trav- ling in the mountains to spot ountain goats. The Idaho State Snowmobile sociation is providing money or the work. Information on what areas to void will be circulated to snow - obile and ski shops and clubs. Winter is the hardest on ountain goat kids and year- They're .just trying to outlast winter," said Robin Gar- d, Forest Service wildlife bi- ,ist. "It's survival." oring weather doesn't help. ,t's when goats are most vul- able, because they've used up r fat supplies to get through winter. Bothering mountain goats Facts: 8111"",,! As more and more cross - country >They inhabit skiers and snowmobilers go higher elevations of and higher into the mountains, they 8,000 to 11,000' °° are disturbing Idaho's elusive feet, even in , , mountain goats. The high - elevation winter.3 °: goats eat little in the winter and )o-They prefer have little energy to run from cliffs and wind- recreationists. Disturbance can swept ridges �� .a kill them. Here are the hotspots that lack snow. > Fifty to 65 ''': where backcountry winter mountain goats travelei s are are killed annually by disturbing mountain special hunting t s herds. permits only > Idaho's r ins mountain goat population iSa7 gi,R source: Idaho Fish estimated w ` a and Game at 3,000 More about mountain goats What: A public meeting, sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service, to talk about mountain goats and the disturbance by recreationists. When: 7 p.m. March 5. Where: Blaine County Gun Club on Ohio Gulch Road, south of Ketchum. Information: Ed Cannady, backcountry ranger, 727 -5004. Spring also is a time when snow becomes packed and firm, and skiers and snowmobilers can go anywhere. Because mountain goats live at high elevations, they are stressed for food well into June, when mountain peaks still are covered with snow. Backcountry skiers, like Andy Munter of Ketchum, see the need to avoid mountain goats. was using a spotting scope from Idaho 75. "Idaho is very blessed to have mountain goats," Neaman said. He doesn't want to see the ani- mals go the way of the steelhead or salmon. "We have the ability to elimi- nate the animal by over- stress- ing it," he said. Idaho hunters know about the value of the animal, because hunting is allowed only by spe- cial permit gained through an annual controlled -hunt drawing. About 50 mountain goats are shot each fall. Currently, there are no re- strictions in the Ketchum area on where winter recreationists can go, except for wilderness re- strictions on snowmobiles and closures of some areas to all recreationists for elk winter "There are plenty of other places to go skiing," he said. The mountain goat herds near Ketchum are unique, said Nappy Neaman, Hailey, who is working with the Sawtooth Wildlife Council and whose life passion is keeping track of the goats. They are the southernmost natural herds in the United States, he said. "We've got to make the pub- lic aware of the value of the mountain goat," he said Tues- day, while watching the ani- mals roaming cliffs in the Boulder Mountains. Neaman range. The Forest Service wants to help recreationists and goats co- exist through education. Signs will be put up in moun- tain goat areas, and recreation- ists will be asked "on their honor," to avoid goat terrain, Cannady said. "We're trying to deal in a way that doesn't shut people out," Cannady said. "People are con- cerned enough about wildlife, so we have great faith this will be effective. We just have to get the word out. "We've got to be good neigh- bors."