Goat Management Proposals for Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park officials are considering several possible approaches for managing the mountain goats in the park. There will be public comment meetings in Seattle and Olympia on August 11th and 12th; and in Port Angeles, August 13th, 5 to 7 p.m. at the Port Angeles Public Library.
Proposals include “capturing and relocating the goats to the Washington Cascades, increasing hazing activities, killing them, or some combination of options” (from the linked article).
I would have thought the best “management” plan would be to make it crystal clear to all park visitors that “You are now entering an unspoiled wilderness area. The animals here are real, not simulated, and some of them could be dangerous if they're surprised or cornered. ONP is not a sterile sanitized theme park.”
Proposals include “capturing and relocating the goats to the Washington Cascades, increasing hazing activities, killing them, or some combination of options” (from the linked article).
I would have thought the best “management” plan would be to make it crystal clear to all park visitors that “You are now entering an unspoiled wilderness area. The animals here are real, not simulated, and some of them could be dangerous if they're surprised or cornered. ONP is not a sterile sanitized theme park.”
posted by Tom Harper at 11:06 AM
25 Comments:
Isn't that what we do, though?
We build pretty houses in the wilderness because we want to enjoy the wild, until it gets inconvenient. When the deer start eating the plants we put in areas that used to be their forage territory, we talk about culls. Killing off the deer because they are eating our valuable landscaping.
When the cougars, wolves and bears kill the cows, sheep and chickens we bring into their former hunting territory, we are quick to kill them off, too.
Before houses, the cowboys shot antelope and deer, saying they were eating feed in the grasslands that their cows should be eating.
These days, in the managed forests, the timber folks spray herbacides to kill off any other plants that might compete with their trees for nutrients, light and water.
We spray crops so that the larval stages of butterflies and moths don't eat plants we favor for commerce. We like butterflies and think they're pretty. Seen many, lately?
Salmon aquaculturists apply pesticides to the waters flowing through their pens to kill off sea lice, with little concern about what else is affected in the ocean ecosystem.
Marshlands are drained, estuaries filled, wiping out ecosystems supporting all kinds of creatures, so that we can put up buildings.
Right here in Clallam County, water rights to the Dungeness River exceed the amount of water that the river actually carries. We know the current battle with that issue, led by the real estate crowd.
Nature is nice and all, as long as it doesn't impede our ability to make money, and bother us too much.
I never go up there often enough to give a shit, as tourist traps goes the ridge is pretty boring.
I just shoot the coons that come to steal the cat food.
Oh, please. The goats up there are invasive, not native, and KILL PEOPLE and destroying a very unique ecosystem. People, keep it up - or use a brain cell or two. It's your choice.
My opinion is that our out of the way dead end park is perfect example of the Peter Principle in action. They could deal with it, but NOOOOOOO it gets debated every few years. Seems like every time we have a big fire season the park morons around here have a "meeting" and want public input. Oh, that will work. New people? Really? I think this is a DEPRESSING sign. Makes me want to go back to college, study science, so I can SCREW PEOPLE for the rest of my life.
So...what's important? Science in regards to managing one of the last remarkable natural areas in the lower 48, that's going bye bye eventually due to rising temperatures but we've got a few decades left so lets enjoy it and do what's right, and listen to the people that we send to the big school and now make the big bucks, or public opinion of a bunch of idiots? Hmmmm....
Having decent management in the park, and an actual daily paper (seen the teaparty inspired polls lately, one after another, day after day?) would make SUCH A DIFFERENCE around here.
Welcome to American democracy, enjoy its insanity.
Those goats may be needed in the future, folks will need something to eat, meanwhile just pack a gun if you are up there and if one charges at you just shoot the son of a bitch.
Bring Tim Setnicka out of retirement to deal with the non-native species and the PR.
Plenty of big school people employed by the oil companies that tell us that there is no such thing as Climate Change.
Plenty of scientists who think genetic engineering of animals and plants for our food is just great.
Lots of people with lots of college education told us Saddam had weapons of mass destruction ready to attack the US. And even more who caused the recent global economic collapse which resulted in a whole bunch of regular folks losing their homes, jobs, and life savings.
The list of scientists and college educated people who promote things we don't always support is pretty long.
Being a scientist or having a college education doesn't mean much, these days. Unfortunately.
And the news media? You saw the article saying Port Angeles is among the top 5 small towns in the US for livability? Largely because of its' great downtown??? Sure. That is credible.
So great, businesses continue to close, and the population is dropping.
Kinda makes my point about these "experts".
Re-introduce grey wolves to the park, problem solved!
Anon 10:15 tells us "The goats up there.... and KILL PEOPLE.."
How many million human visitors to the park? One person killed.
Statistically, one in ??? million ?
More people die in the park from falling, drowning, car accidents, etc, than are killed by goats.
Seriously.
But, I like rhetoric as much as the next guy! LOL!
Had to laugh about that livability article, saying one reason was because of public involvement.
I guess they didn't hear about the City of Port Angeles suing little old ladies who collected petition signatures.
We are the invasive species that brought the other invasive species here. We are as bad as that fucking Scotch Broom and real estate agents. We killed Indians until they gave up and let us put them on reservations, they didn’t have a good enough homeland security, they should have killed our ancestors as soon as they started showing up because we are no better.
Couldn't they just shave the goats and ship them to China? That seems to be working well for all these nuisance trees...
LOL! Funny.
I blame Obama!
See, exactly what I'm talking about. Some kid hits a pedestrian hard enough to imprint her face in the hood, then the kid drives away. Was the woman dead on impact or would manning up and dialing 911 have saved her? Doesn't say, probably doesn't matter around here. The kid got 90 days which may be waived for work release. 90 days, man life is cheap around here. Of course people are probably whining "but the kid's going to spend the rest of his life suffering because he has to live with what he did." Yeah, so does the woman's 6 year old daughter. So do a lot of people who do crimes that don't cause fatalities but they spend longer in jail. The peninsula's view of road fatalities is nothing more than a culture of death. Same people who think it's ok to kill someone with a car probably is "pro life".
Thanks dumbass from Port Townsend for screwing up the local coverage of the first legal recreational pot purchase in Clallam! Hope you got arrested on your way home. Idiot. I bet he lives in a yurt and he's into invasive species and Burmese mountain goats are way up there on his list. And driving high. Just a guess. Or, he's a big ol' jokester and fucking with the PDN.
The PDN's reporting on all this is horrible. Wonder if that guy pictured is a buddy of someone at the paper? Sort of fits in with their bizarre reporting, I smell a set up.
@ 5:23 - You seem pretty dumb to be calling someone else an idiot.
“I'm going home to smoke this right now,” Carey said. “I'm going to have weed in my car on the highway.”
Going home to smoke, not smoking in his car. This is basic reading comprehension.
Still thinking about that article saying how that magazine has concluded that Port Angeles is number 5 in the national list of the top 10 small towns in the US.
Let's see. Recently, we have read in the PDN how the city has spent so much money on brain dead projects like Cutlers Turd Tank, that the city is now at it's "taxing limit." So, Port Angeles has a crappy city government, and very high taxes.
We read articles on how the City of Port Angeles sued a group of little old ladies for collecting signatures from fellow residents for a petition asking for reconsideration of a city action.
We read articles about how the then mayor of Port Angeles threatened residents of Gales Addition with having their water shut off, during the heat of the summer, if they didn't comply with what the City wanted them to do.
We read quotes from Cherie Kidd as the mayor saying she gets depressed when she returns to Port Angeles after time away. So, Port Angeles' situation is deemed depressing by it's mayor.
We read articles saying that despite spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayers money on efforts to attract developers for retail, residential, commercial or industrial, none were interested in locating to Port Angeles.
We read that there are a number of economic development groups, given millions of dollars a year, collectively, to increase economic activity in Port Angeles and Clallam County. Yet, many businesses have closed in recent years, with few taking their places.
We read articles about how the unemployment rate continues to rise in Port Angeles, when the statewide and national numbers are dropping.
We read articles about how the population of Port Angeles is dropping. School enrollment is dropping. People are leaving Port Angeles, relocating to a place that offers more.
But, some folks, sitting in an office somewhere, looked at some numbers, and came up with a conclusion that Port Angeles is something it really isn't.
Not surprisingly, the City loves it. It has long demonstrated it operates on bad information, incorrect conclusions and false statements.
It is an awesome place to live for those that actually choose to be here despite your whining.
@1:14
You say "It is an awesome place to live for those that actually choose to be here despite your whining."
Perhaps you might read what was written.
The post referenced articles published in the Peninsula Daily News. These were not my opinion, nor my view of Port Angeles, but that of the City Finance Director, the mayor of Port Angeles, etc.
And, it was only a partial list of articles that reveal what kind of place Port Angeles really is.
Businesses were courted. Professionals were paid big money to lure developers to Port Aneles. The developers did their research, and all said "no way".
The population is dropping, as people move away. This is not my opinion.
" According to the 2002 U.S. Census of Governments, there were more than 34,000 local general-purpose governments with less than 25,000 residents".
You seriously think that Port Angeles is number 5, out of 34,000 towns in the US?
Think that through. If things are as bad in Port Angeles as quoted above from the PDN, imagine how bad the other 33,995 towns across America must be!!
Interesting to see the City has $17 million to spend on building beaches in the fog shrouded wind tunnel that is the Port Angeles waterfront, but no money for rebuilding Civic Field.
They know, because the residents' own children use Civic Field for those all-American games of foorball and baseball, that they can appeal for tax raises and levies to do that, and have a better chance of getting that extra tax money for their projects.
But few residents in Port Angeles would willingly agree to raises in their taxes to build beaches in the wind tunnel for millions of dollars.
Ah, I can hardly wait to go sunbathe and fish off those multi-million dollar beaches, enjoying the stench and views of the mill and next door log yard.
Such great use of tax money!
Oh come on people. If Port Angeles isn't worth being ranked in the top 10 most desirable places to live, then why are so many people moving here?
So many transients and mental patients that is.
Seems like there's more and more every year.
Now who wants to raise taxes so we can end homelessness?!
You must have seen the article in todays' PDN, saying homelessness is up in Port Angeles.
6:39 - How about cutting back in other areas to fund homeless projects instead of raising taxes? Or how about banning spitting? Something with the homeless here (or those that appear homeless). Don't see that so much in Seattle, people spitting on the streets, in their neighbors yards, etc. So, I question that Seattle is sending its homeless here, on that observation alone. My bet is it's Boise.
I'd like to see a PDN poll, if we'd like an enforced spitting ban, though!
I bet the same percentage (40%, not scientific, mind you) that like to spit, don't want to limit the amount of pets.
BBC - I enjoy your posts, thanks.
1:30 - You are so annoying. You remind me of the lady on the Blue Dog Food (tm) commercial, that just figured out they print the ingredients on the label.
I'm so mad!
Get a life. Connect point A. with point B. somewhere else.
@12:15am
The truth is not so much fun to face, hunh?
Point out what I stated that is incorrect, and we'll have something to talk about.
Otherwise. Well, you know.
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