Mt. San Jacinto Outdoor Recreation

Judging from Sally's experience, removal would be expedited by employing a large stock of unlaundered hiking socks as bait.

The mountain goats I saw - this was in the early 70's - were in a more traditional setting, steep terrain rather like parts of Skyline, but green and misty.

Great idea, Ed. If you don't mind, I will submit the idea to nps as a comment on the eis.

Maybe socks could be placed along a route to the Cascades. This would be a gentle way to nudge them to relocate. The nps could put their nets, helicopters and guns away.

If every hiker could donate at least one pair of nasty socks, we could save a lot of mountain goats. Of course we would need volunteers to string clothes lines in strategic places and hang the socks. We could give the program a catchy slogan like "Hang a sock, save a goat."

In all seriousness though, I thought that the noble creatures were natives at the time. The situation is kind of like the wild pigs that had to be eradicated from the Channel Islands. Sad.

Sally wrote: "Hang a sock, save a goat."

Lovin' that!

z

Hi Sally, your thought that the goats you saw were native may be sound, and, worst case, is not far from the truth. Although the nps has publicized a claim that the goats are not native, that turns out to be a controversial claim, may be false and is beyond anyone's ability to verify with certainty. Even if they are not native, the nps preference for eradicating them from the peninsula with nets, helicopters and guns is also controversial from an ecological perspective.

I like your save the goats plan. They do too, I am sure.

And more than anything, you are so right: they are noble creatures. Under all of the nps plans, they face a future of great brutality. Very sad.