A goat herd close to home

Mount Aeneas hikerslikely to encounter mountain goats up high

By JIM MANN

The Daily Inter Lake

When Flathead Valley residents think of the easiest place to find mountain goats, Glacier National Park's Logan Pass is likely to come to mind.

But there is another, closer population.

They are sentinels of the Swan Mountain Range, reliably watching over the Flathead Valley.

Bigfork resident Jim Sadler finds them on annual treks up the distinctive slopes of Mount Aeneas, the 7,530-foot peak that towers over the Jewel Basin Hiking Area.

"I go up there once a year," said Sadler, a board member for the Glacier Institute. "It really is one of the best hikes in the Swan, there is no doubt about it."

Last week, Sadler made the hike with fellow board members Bill Halama of Whitefish, Jim Kuhlman of Bigfork and Columbia Falls resident Joyce Baltz, the institute's executive director.

"As we got near the microwave tower we started running into goats," Sadler said. "I'd say a half dozen were up there."

Like their cousins on Logan Pass, the Aeneas goats aren't shy around people.

"They were coming really close to us, within six to eight feet," Sadler said.

The goat group included a nanny with a kid.

The Jewel Basin goat population is stable, "but they are not going through the roof by any means," said Jim Williams, regional wildlife manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The population is surveyed about every three years, and is now estimated to number about 30 goats, Williams said.

It is a native population that is off-limits to hunting.

The state's limited entry goat hunting permits tend to be highly conservative for other native goat populations in Western Montana, which are not nearly as robust as populations introduced in Eastern Montana, Williams said.

State biologists have not determined why western populations are lagging, he added.

Last year, Fish, Wildlife and Parks destroyed an exotic domestic goat that wandered up the slopes of Mount Aeneas, out of concern that

it could expose the native population to disease.

And Williams said there is concern about the potential for Jewel Basin goats to be habituated to humans. Hikers are urged not to feed them.

"They are tolerant of people, and there's a fine line when they become habituated," Williams said. "Then they start following people around and it appears as if they are begging."

The Jewel Basin goats are highly accessible.

"And it's to the hiker's delight," Williams said. "Other than Logan Pass, it's a place where you can be in goats 40 minutes from the parking lot."

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com