The wildfire on Mount Eneas will most likely result in an improved herd of mountain goats, a familiar sight on the mountain along Highway 97.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Wikimedia Commons
July 26, 2018 - 9:00 PM
PENTICTON - The Mount Eneas fire may prove to be beneficial for the mountain’s resident goat population.
Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development media relations officer Jeremy Uppenborn says wildfire is beneficial for goat habitat as wildfires improve natural food supply.
“Historically the ecosystem involved five- to 15-year periods between low-intensity wildfires, which lead to increased forage quality and quantity,” Uppenborn said in an email, adding other species on the mountain will also likely benefit in the long term.
Uppenborn says Ministry wildlife staff observed several groups of goats yesterday, July 25, on the mountain.
A significant portion of the goat’s range hasn't been affected by the burn and it appears likely the goats remained in that habitat throughout the fire.
The goats observed by ministry staff were bedded and feeding approximately one kilometre south of the wildfire boundary yesterday.
Uppenborn says before the Okanagan Mountain Park wildfire in 2003 there was an estimated 18 to 20 goats in the park and after the fire they flourished.
“Now, there are more than 100,” he says.
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