Origin, expansion, and status of mountain goats in Yellowstone National Park
Lemke TO. 2004. Origin, expansion, and status of mountain goats in Yellowstone National Park. Wildlife Society Bulletin. 32(2):532-541
From the Abstract: "In the 1980's scientists determined that an introduced mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus) population caused negative impacts to subalpine plant communities in Olympic National Park (ONP). These findings resulted in a controversial and costly mountain goat reduction program from 1981-1989. Since 1990 introducted nonnative mountain goats from Montana have successfully colonized Yellowstone National Park (YNP) via the Absaroka and Gallatin mountain ranges. ...within YNP they are also viewed with concern as an exotic species, potentially capable of exploiting fragile subalpine landscapes where, by policy, nonnative ungulates are not welcomed. Important ecological differences between YNP and ONP may reduce the likelihood of negative resource impacts of mountain goats in YNP. Future mountain goat management decisions in YNP should be based on documented impacts of goats on their habitat and other species in YNP and not what has occurred in ONP."
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Lemke, Thomas
- Units
- OLYM
- Keywords
- Animal Studies, Exotic, Mountain Goat (Oreamnos americanus), NPBib: OLYM-557, subalpine habitat