It is not clear yet what has happened to a small group of “iconic” mountain goats, as a large wildfire burns out of control near the evacuated community of Summerland, B.C.
Motorists travelling toward the community from the north along Highway 97 could frequently spot the white animals, as they cling to the cliffs above Okanagan Lake, but their habitat falls within the borders of the Bald Range wildfire, which started last Friday and quickly spread.
That fire not only forced the rapid evacuation of Summerland, Peachland and surrounding communities, but also prompted questions and concerns about about the health of the mountain goats.
Michael Noonan, a biology professor at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus, said he could only speculate about what happened to the animals, but he’s not optimistic.
“So, there is a very good chance many animals were lost during this fire,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
He said the animals have become “iconic” over the years, because of their visibility along Highway 97, which is currently closed because of the fire.
“You see them all the time, right?” he said. “So, there are a lot of people, who have a connection with those animals just from that.”
There are unconfirmed sightings and uncertainty about the status of the goats.
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The Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance said on social media that the Peachland Fire and Rescue Service has spotted an unspecified number of animals.
But the post, which subsequently dropped any reference to the fire department, does not offer additional details, including specifics about any potential losses, and the society declined to make the person who spotted the animals available.
Peachland Fire and Rescue Service Chief Ian Cummings says he has no information one way or another about the animals.
Noonan, who has studied the responses of mountain goats to the fires that burnt through nearby Cathedral Park in 2003, said the animals do not immediately respond to an approaching fire.
“They respond, when it is an immediate threat,” he says. “So, with a fire like the Summerland fire that moved extremely fast, not having a proactive or strong proactive behaviour, is a big risk for wildfire.”
Noonan said his research from the Cathedral Park fire shows that mountain goats seek higher ground to escape flames, because that is their safe place.
But that risks them being trapped on steep cliffs, he added.
“The behaviour of goats of moving toward steep cliffs and moving up elevation is not really well matched to fire, because fire moves up elevation, right?” he said.
It’s less risky if the animals were already above the tree line, Noonan said.
“But if they are at tree line and still within tree line and start moving, they can put themselves in a situation, where they trap themselves.”
It is not clear how many animals were living in the area when the fire broke out, but the number of animals living in southern B-C is far smaller than in other parts of the province.
“The goats as a whole are doing relatively OK (across B.C.), but in our region, it is more precarious,” Noonan said.
The mountain goats in the Southern Interior live in isolated populations.
A combination of geography and human development, such as roads, agriculture and housing have fragmented their habitat, pushing them into smaller and smaller refuges, he said.
That isolation also makes it more difficult for them to escape fires, he said.
“There are risks that a few fires like this can eliminate those animals from our region entirely,” he said. “So, they are on the precipice.”
Humans have developed and maintain escape routes for themselves, he added.
“We should be doing the same for goats and all our wildlife in general. So, we need to improve the connectivity.”
Noonan said many questions won’t have answers until after the fire, but the very possibility that these animals could have been displaced or potentially killed by this fire is still unsettling.
“Our province, our region is dealing with a loss of bio-diversity … and a little blow to these populations that are clinging on, can be really difficult to bounce back from, because they are already struggling,” he said.
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