1. Ghosts of the Hills:
Mountain Goats
on Kodiak
McCrea Cobb
Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge
Brown Bag Lunch Series
Oct. 20, 2011

2. Ghosts of the Hills

4. Presentation Outline
• Natural history and
ecology
• How goats ended up
on Kodiak
• Research and
monitoring work
– 2011 Field Season
• Future research and
monitoring goals
B. Dunker

5. Mountain Goats
• Member of Caprinae
– “Goat/antelopes”
• Serow spp.
• Goral spp.
• Chamois spp.
– Only living
species in it‟s genus

6. Natural History
• Distribution
• Western N.A.
• S. to Colorado
• N. to Alaska
• 80-120K goats
• ~58K in Canada
• ~12K in lower 48
• ~30K in Alaska

7. Alaska Distribution
ADF&G

8. Life History
• Diet and Habitat
– Graze grasses, sedges,
forbs, lichens, ferns,
and moss.
– May browse shrubs and
conifers during the
winter when other
forage is unavailable.
– Need escape terrain
• Especially important
during kidding season.

9. Life History
• Home Ranges
– Generally small
• 300 ha females
• 1,200 ha males
• Movements
K. White ADF&G
– Daily to acquire food,
rest, find a mate,
thermoregulate, and
avoid predators.
– Seasonal for
nutritional and
reproductive needs.
• Altitudinal migrations
K. White ADF&G

10. Annual Life Cycle
• Nannies give birth to 1
kid (usually) in late
May – early June
• Rut in late Oct.– early
Dec.
• Billies  solo to
small groups.
• Nannies/kids 
nursery groups

11. Nanny or Billy?

12. Quiz: Nanny or Billy?
B
N
K

13. Nanny or Billy?
N
B

14. Nanny or Billy?
? N B
N
B
N

15. Introductions to Kodiak
Species Release Date Release Site Current Status
Sitka deer 1924, 1934 Long & Kodiak Is. ~60-80,000 (?)
Roosevelt elk 1929 Afognak Is. ~610 (2010)
Moose 1966, 1967 Kodiak Is. XX
Reindeer 1924 Alitak Bay ~320
Dall sheep 1964, 1965 Kodiak Is. XX
Beaver 1929 Kodiak & Raspberry Is. 30-50,000 (?)
Muskrat 1925 Long Is. Chiniak area
Marten 1952 Afognak Is. 2-3,000 (?)
(Paramanof)
Mink 1952 Kodiak Is. (Karluk) XX
Snowshoe hare 1934 Kodiak & Afognak Is. 100,000 (??)
Red squirrel 1952 Afognak & Kodiak Is. 10-15,000 (?)
Raccoon pre-1936 & 1980 Long & Kodiak Is. XX
Spruce grouse 1957, 1959 Woody Is. XX
Vancouver Canada goose 1986 Shuyak & Kodiak Is. ~1,000 (?)

17. Goat
Introductions
• “Easier rugs or roasts
should be available and in
more places”
• 1924, 18 goats introduced
to Baranof Is.
• Federal Aid in Wildlife
Restoration funding
• Experimented with
numerous methods to
capture
• Dogs
• “feed pail” traps
• Collapsible box trap
• Self-injecting syringe on an
arrow
• Drop net from a helicopter

18. Goats to
Kodiak
• Initial attempts
were unsuccessful.
• Private trappers
– $350-400/goat
– Dangerous work
• 18 goats captured
in 1952 and 1953.

24. 1952-1953

25. 1975-1984

26. 1984-1995

27. 1985-1994

28. 2004-2010

29. Population Growth
2500
*Currently ~2,400 – 2,600 goats island-wide
2000
# Goats Counted
1500
1000
500
0

30. Population Growth

31. Management Concerns
• Mountain goats are
an economically
important game
species on Kodiak.
– Maintaining high
harvests in important
• Rapid population
growth is a concern.
– Classic ungulate
irruptive growth
pattern
– Potential for long-
lasting changes to the
landscape

32. Management Goal:
• Maintain a sustainable mountain goat population
that:
1) Meets agency harvest objectives.
2) Does not detrimentally impact native flora and fauna.

33. Management Questions
1. An estimate of the
number of goats, with
confidence intervals.
2. An understanding of
the effects of hunting
and other limiting
factors on changes in
population size.
3. An understanding of
how big the population
can get without causing
damage to the
landscape.

34. Information Needs
1. An estimate of the 1. How many goats are not
number of goats, with being counted during
confidence intervals. surveys.
2. An understanding of 2. Rates and sources of
the effects of hunting mortality and
and other limiting reproductive rates.
factors on changes in
population size.
3. An understanding of 3. Resource selection
how big the population patterns
can get without causing 1. Diet
damage to the 2. Feeding Site Selection
landscape. 3. Habitat Selection

35. Summer 2011 Pilot Field Study
• Goals:
1. Quantify
mountain
goat diets.
2. Determine
feeding
site
selection.

36. Where?
• 3 study sites
– Hidden Basin/
Terror Lake
– Uyak region
– Hepburn Pen.
• Selected based on
duration of goat
occupancy.
• Visited each study
site twice between
May and Aug.

37. What did we do?
• Diet
– Collected fresh
pellets
– Sent to WSU
– Results by Feb „12

38. What did we do?
• Feeding Site Selection
– Transects at feeding
sites and random
locations
– 17 plots along transects
– Surveyed plant species
diversity and
composition
• Will compare data
from feeding sites to
random locations

39. Preliminary Results
• Surveyed 298 plots
• 5,066 plots!
• 161 unique plant
species / habitats
– Most common plants:
• Long-awned sedge,
patridgefoot, arctic
daisy, black
crowberry
• Distance to rock
outcropping
important, slope less.

40. Future Research Goals
• Cost-effective
estimate of
population size that
includes confidence
interval
– VHF radio collars
• Resource Selection
– GPS collars
• Survival &
Reproduction
– Monitor collared
goats

41. The Goat Crew