Goats Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

As Backcountry Travelers Shift Load To Goats, National Forests Eye Risks

By NPR News November 11, 2019

Bannack is a 2-year-old Alpine goat bred to haul loads into and out of the backcountry. National forests are formalizing pack goat regulations as they revise their forest plans. CREDIT: Nick Mott/Montana Public Radio

The number of people using goats to pack gear, game and food into the backcountry is rising rapidly, and national forests in at least 10 western states have proposed partial pack goat bans to prevent the spread of pathogens that could prove deadly to the west's iconic populations of bighorn sheep.Read More

Goats & Wildfire Prevention

By McKayla Fox August 9, 2019

Goat clearing brush for wildfire prevention

Goats & Wildfire Prevention Clearing brush for fire prevention can be hard and dangerous work for firefighters so Wenatchee, Wash. is trying a different tactic…goats. Tri-Cities Correspondent Courtney Flatt found […]Read More

Hey, That’s My Grass! Goats Chomp Fire Fuels Around Previously Burned Wenatchee Neighborhood

By Courtney Flatt July 28, 2019

These goats from a herding operation based in Ephrata were in Wenatchee in July to clean out fire fuels near Broadview neighborhood that burned in the 2015 Sleepy Hollow fire. CREDIT: COURTNEY FLATT/NWPB

A fire district around Wenatchee has come up with a new way to make wildland fires less severe. Chelan County Fire District 1 is ditching the hand tools and machinery that firefighters traditionally use to thin overgrown brush. Instead, they’re turning to a more natural approach to thin out fuels around the Broadview neighborhood that burned in the 2015 Sleepy Hollow fire.Read More

Central Washington Fire District Will Use Goats To Reduce Fire Risk Around Wenatchee

By Courtney Flatt June 19, 2019

File photo. Briana Murphy's goats can clear 150 pounds of foliage a day. CREDIT: Jule Gilfillan/OPB

Four years ago, the Sleepy Hollow Fire burned to the edge of Wenatchee. Flames rushed through, consuming brush and cheatgrass and quickly destroying 28 homes and three businesses. Now, with the help of a federal grant, firefighters are getting rid of some of those grasses to better protect homes.Read More

When Goats Fly! Olympic Range Mountain Goats Relocated By Helicopter To North Cascades

By Tom Banse September 13, 2018

A young male mountain goat rested in its crate shortly before release Wednesday. CREDIT: TOM BANSE / NW NEWS NETWORK

Wildlife biologists have relocated the first two dozen of hundreds of non-native mountain goats slated for removal from Olympic National Park. The logistically-challenging capture and transfer of the woolly wild animals to the northern Cascade Range has been periodically slowed by weather this week.Read More

Get Off My Lawn! Unruly Goats Graze Hell Across Suburban Boise

By NPR News August 4, 2018

Disclaimer: These are not the goats that went on the lam in Boise. But they sure look just as sassy. CREDIT: DAIVD MCNEW/GETTY IMAGES

As the sun rose over Idaho on Friday, residents of suburban West Boise awoke to find some noisy new neighbors horning in on their yards: goats. A teeming host of hungry, grunting goats. Local reporter Joe Parris got the scoop.Read More

Sustaining Member Annie, Of Vashon Island, Rescues Goats

By Sue Sheppard July 6, 2018

NWPB listeners are involved in a variety of animal-related organizations. We’re all familiar with groups that save and adopt dogs and cats, but goats? Rescue goats? Yes! Sustaining member Annie, […]Read More