QUOTE
Snowshoe enthusiast gets his goat in county
Friday, March 3, 2006
By ERIK ROBINSON, Columbian staff writer
David Koskamp was snowshoeing on the Silver Star Mountain trail Saturday when he spotted Clark County's loftiest inhabitant: a mountain goat perched atop Pyramid Rock.
"Just hanging around, I guess," he said.
Koskamp, who struck out on the trail at midmorning Saturday with his pooch, Kodi, said he was surprised to spot a mountain goat within sight of downtown Portland, about 25 miles away. The resident of Hillsboro, Ore., documented the sighting with his camera and then posted the photographs to a climbing Web site called summitpost.org.
The area is about 10 miles northeast of Washougal.
A state biologist said this goat probably wandered off from one of several known populations to the north.
"It's not at all uncommon, especially for the young male mountain goats, to leave their populations and to wander around," said Eric Holman, a biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in Vancouver. "I'm not surprised that one would land there."
Holman said other known populations in Southwest Washington include the Siouxon Creek area in the extreme northeast edge of Clark County near Yale Reservoir; a few around Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams; and about 350 animals in the aptly named Goat Rocks Wilderness on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest north of Mount Adams.
The estimated statewide population of 4,000 is less than half of historic highs, mainly due to habitat loss from a century of largely successful fire suppression.
Holman said the goats thrive in alpine meadows. In the absence of periodic wildfires, conifer trees have encroached on large mountain clearings and constricted the habitat available for mountain goats.
"It reduces the amount of forage available to them," he said.
Although the goats are not listed as a threatened or endangered animal, the state game department makes only 21 hunting tags available for the animal across the state. In 2003, the last year readily available, Holman said 5,500 hunters applied for one of the rare tags in a lottery.
"As with all species, we have limited ability to control broad-scale habitat changes that have occurred," Holman said. "One thing we can control is the hunting season."
Did you know?
At 3,503 feet, Pyramid Rock, on the extreme eastern edge of Clark County on the trail leading to Silver Star Mountain, is the highest named landmark in Clark County. But it's not actually the highest point. That would be a mile or so north of Pyramid Rock, at a point conveniently identified in the Clark County Atlas as "Highest Point in Clark County" at 4,108 feet.
[NOTE:]While this isn't the same picture that was on the front page of the Vancouver Columbian, it is similiar enough that I believe it may be of the same animal and by the same photographer. Photo from http://www.summitpost.org/view_object.php?object_id=176494...
Friday, March 3, 2006
By ERIK ROBINSON, Columbian staff writer
David Koskamp was snowshoeing on the Silver Star Mountain trail Saturday when he spotted Clark County's loftiest inhabitant: a mountain goat perched atop Pyramid Rock.
"Just hanging around, I guess," he said.
Koskamp, who struck out on the trail at midmorning Saturday with his pooch, Kodi, said he was surprised to spot a mountain goat within sight of downtown Portland, about 25 miles away. The resident of Hillsboro, Ore., documented the sighting with his camera and then posted the photographs to a climbing Web site called summitpost.org.
The area is about 10 miles northeast of Washougal.
A state biologist said this goat probably wandered off from one of several known populations to the north.
"It's not at all uncommon, especially for the young male mountain goats, to leave their populations and to wander around," said Eric Holman, a biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in Vancouver. "I'm not surprised that one would land there."
Holman said other known populations in Southwest Washington include the Siouxon Creek area in the extreme northeast edge of Clark County near Yale Reservoir; a few around Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams; and about 350 animals in the aptly named Goat Rocks Wilderness on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest north of Mount Adams.
The estimated statewide population of 4,000 is less than half of historic highs, mainly due to habitat loss from a century of largely successful fire suppression.
Holman said the goats thrive in alpine meadows. In the absence of periodic wildfires, conifer trees have encroached on large mountain clearings and constricted the habitat available for mountain goats.
"It reduces the amount of forage available to them," he said.
Although the goats are not listed as a threatened or endangered animal, the state game department makes only 21 hunting tags available for the animal across the state. In 2003, the last year readily available, Holman said 5,500 hunters applied for one of the rare tags in a lottery.
"As with all species, we have limited ability to control broad-scale habitat changes that have occurred," Holman said. "One thing we can control is the hunting season."
Did you know?
At 3,503 feet, Pyramid Rock, on the extreme eastern edge of Clark County on the trail leading to Silver Star Mountain, is the highest named landmark in Clark County. But it's not actually the highest point. That would be a mile or so north of Pyramid Rock, at a point conveniently identified in the Clark County Atlas as "Highest Point in Clark County" at 4,108 feet.