Plan to remove goats from Olympics could begin this summer

PORT ANGELES, Wash.  — Federal and state officials plan to capture and relocate as many mountain goats from Olympic National Park to the North Cascades and killing the others.

The efforts would start this summer once a 30-day waiting period is completed and a final decision is signed.

The National Park Service, the Forest Service and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife released its final environmental review Friday. They say the plan will allow them to reduce environmental impacts and protect public safety.

Mountain goats, which are not native to the Olympic Peninsula, have long posed an environmental problem. The fatal goring of a hiker in 2010 raised new concerns.

The plan calls for capturing and relocating goats to the North Cascade Mountains, where mountain goats are native, and then switching to shooting the rest when capturing isn't possible.

The goat population in the Olympics more than doubled to 625 between 2004 and 2016.