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50 °F Forecast | Road Cams Saturday, February 19, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classifieds Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend January 6, 2005 ODFW mulls proposal for relocation of goats By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune During the Lewis and Clark expedition’s return trip east through the Columbia Gorge, explorer Merriwether Lewis gazed upon the gorge’s cliffs at the great white wonders hoofing along the Oregon side. While camped near present-day Bonneville Dam on April 10, 1806, Lewis wrote about the abundant goats along the cliffs and adjacent mountains. Gorge visitors could do the same beginning this summer under a proposed project to restore part of the Lewis and Clark fauna back to this part of Oregon. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is mulling whether to re-introduce Rocky Mountain goats into the Herman Creek basin near the Cascade Locks. A proposal to do so calls for trapping 15-20 animals from the goat-rich Elkhorn Mountains in northeast Oregon and truck them to Herman Creek for release on Forest Service lands. Advertisement "Historically, they were found there, according to the Lewis and Clark journal," ODFW spokeswoman Anne Pressentin Young says. "This would get them back." If done, it will be the first goat releases completed under the ODFW’s new management plan for bighorn sheep and Rocky Mountain goats. The plan outlines how the agency hopes to re-introduce the species into suitable habitat, and calls for public input and Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission approval for placing goats in new territory. Public meetings are planned for later this month in Sandy and The Dalles to discuss the proposal and gather input. "This is the first time we’ve gone through this process," says Keith Kohl, an ODFW wildlife biologist working on goat projects. "As biologists, we used to get together and figure out the best sports for goats and turn them loose. Now, each release site has its own plan." Plans also include fitting at least some of the goats with Global Positioning System (GPS) collars so they can be tracked, Kohl says. The collars, which cost $5,700, are equipped with a trigger device which, when activated, will cause the collar to drop off the goat, Kohl says. Gone before European settlers reached Oregon in the 1840s but chronicled in petroglyphs and by explorers like Lewis and Clark, goats now number about 400 across Oregon. The ODFW has released Rocky Mountain goats in Oregon 13 times since the first re-introduction of the species here from Washington state in 1950. Goats from Idaho, Washington and Alaska have been released in the Elkhorn Mountains since the 1980s, and the herds there are estimated at 150 goats. Rocky Mountain goats are considered one of Oregon’s least recognized animals, mainly because they inhabit extremely rough and remote terrain. A nimble cousin of cattle, Oreamnos americanus stands about 5 feet tall at the shoulder and weighs up to 300 pounds. Its nose, lips, eyes, hooves and horns are all black, with thick white fur coating its body. Both males and females sport the white beards and black antlers. However, a male "billy’s" horns are thicker and curve backward along a constant arc, while a female "nanny’s" antlers are more narrow and tend to rise straight from the skull and bend sharply backward at the tips. Mountain goats are herbivores with a dire need for salt, so they will travel great distances to find outcrops of mineral-rich soils. But their most startling characteristic is their incredible ability to trek where no other mammals can. The goat’s skeleton is arranged so that all four hooves can fit onto a ledge as small as 6 inches long and 2 inches wide. Goats can even rear up and turn on these tiny footholds. Their acrobatism and lack of acrophobia make them so immune to predation that avalanches, rockslides and falls account for more goat deaths than any other source. Getting goats a foothold in the Columbia Gorge has been an ODFW project dating back more than 35 years. The ODFW first transplanted four goats in the Columbia Gorge from Washington’s Olympic National Park in 1969, but the animals failed to become a viable group and were last seen in 1991. Since then, biologists have learned that more transplanted goats make it easier for them to become a stable herd, Kohl says. "We need 15 to 20 animals, or more, for a good introduction," he says. The goal, at first, will be to create a viable herd with public viewing opportunities, Kohl says. "If the population gets built up enough, hopefully we can have a (hunting) season there," Kohl says. Since 1997, the ODFW has offered limited sport-hunting opportunities in some areas of eastern Oregon. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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