Starting Monday, mountain goats from Olympic National Park will be relocated to the northern Cascade Mountains, which meets wildlife management goals in both areas, said the National Park Service.

This effort is a partnership between the National Park Service, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, and the Forest Service to help depleted populations of mountain goats in the Cascades.

Area tribes lending support to the translocation plan in the Cascades include the Lummi, Muckleshoot, Sauk-Suiattle, Stillaguamish, Suquamish, Swinomish, Tulalip and Upper Skagit tribes.

A management plan envisions removing the estimated 725 mountain goats from the Olympic Peninsula.

This month’s two-week effort to move the goats is in addition to more two-week periods planned for next year. Mountain goats were introduced to the Olympics in the 1920s.

“Mountain goat relocation will allow these animals to reoccupy historical range areas in the Cascades and increase population viability,” said Jesse Plumage, USFS Wildlife Biologist.

While some mountain goat populations in the north Cascades have recovered since the 1990s, the species is still absent from many areas of its historic range.

Aerial capture operations will be conducted through a contract with a private company that specializes in the capture and transport of wild animals. The helicopter crew will use tranquilizer darts and net guns to capture mountain goats and transport them in specially made slings to the staging area on Hurricane Hill Road beyond the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center in Olympic National Park. The staging area will be closed to public access.

The animals will be examined by veterinarians before WDFW wildlife managers transport them overnight to staging areas in the north Cascades for release the following day.

The state plans to release the mountain goats at five sites in the Cascades this month. Two release areas are near mountain peaks south of Darrington. The others are near Mt. Index, on the Skykomish Ranger District, Tower Peak in the Methow area of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and the headwaters of the Cedar River Drainage.

Mountain goats follow and approach hikers because they are attracted to the salt from their sweat, urine and food. That behavior is less likely in the north Cascades, where visitors are more widely distributed than those at Olympic National Park, said Rich Harris, a WDFW wildlife manager who specializes in mountain goats.