Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Kevin White presented Thursday preliminary findings of a seven-year study on regional mountain goat habitat, results which he said could help policy makers better identify and map heliski terrain.
One heliski company operator this week said he disagreed with the state’s assessment of the location of goats.
Local heliski mapping within the Haines Borough has faced several hurdles. Two members of last winter’s heliski map committee own heliski companies, and local residents said their involvement was a conflict of interest. Others are concerned about the industry’s effect on mountain goats.
White prefaced his study’s findings with statements regarding helicopter disturbance to mountain goats and how Fish and Game relies on a Northern Wild Sheep and Goat Council statement that says, in part, mountain goats are disturbed when helicopters are within 1,500 to 2,000 meters.
“We typically rely on this document to guide the comments that we make,” White said. “We consider this a document that’s based on best available science and it represents the scientific consensus on this issue.”
Fish and Game’s study began in 2005 around Lynn Canal and later expanded to Haines, Skagway and the Cleveland Peninsula.
Since 2010 researchers have placed GPS collars on 67 mountain goats. The radio markers send out signals every three to six hours over three years, which has culminated in 190,000 recorded mountain goat GPS locations.
Besides better understanding population dynamics, survival, genetics and site fidelity, mapping helped scientists understand where mountain goats spend their winters and summers.
Coastal and inland mountain goats differ in terms of where they range during the summer and winter. Coastal goats tend to live at higher altitudes in the summer and migrate down to steep, rugged forests in the winter, where there is less snow and more food. Inland goats in winter live at higher elevations, where wind-blown slopes make food more accessible.
Because Haines has a transitional climate, goats have mixed strategies for wintering, the study found.
“This has implications for helicopter ski management, for example, if mountain goats are wintering at low elevations, then there’s not likely to be any special overlap between where mountain goats winter or where helicopter skiing is occurring,” White said. “If they’re wintering at higher elevation, then there’s potential for conflict.”
Around local ridges and peaks, two thirds of mountain goats winter at or above treeline. In some of these areas, there is no overlap between where mountain goats are and where helicopter activity occurs. But in other areas, helicopters and mountain goats are sharing the same terrain.
White suggested heliski map boundaries could be adjusted based on mountain goat habitat.
“You can imagine how this habitat modeling exercise could be helpful in diffusing some of the conflict associated with mountain goats and helicopter skiing,” White said.
Co-owner of Alaska Heli Skiing Ryan Johnson attended the presentation. He said with the prospect of new terrain, he’s entering the map change process with an open mind but he’s also skeptical about where Fish and Game says mountain goats are living.
“We’re out there skiing everyday and we know where the goats are and where they aren’t,” Johnson said. “Goats aren’t trying to hang out in neck deep snow on north-facing slopes. Fish and Game thinks they are, but they definitely aren’t.”
He said people using mountain goat habitat as a reason to curb heliskiing are using “the so-called preservation of a species to get at their own political goals.”
Johnson said it will take several years to fine-tune any map changes, and he thinks better mapping technology will improve boundary lines, some of which currently include a ski run but not a landing site.
The Haines Borough Assembly will discuss map changes later this summer after Fish and Game’s study is completed, which should be within the next few months, White said.