This mountain goat was photographed Sept. 1 near La Grande's northwest Interstate 84 exit. The mountain goat was on the cliffs above the Grande Ronde River. (Photo/RICHARD HEINEMANN).

– Dick Mason

-The Observer

Are Rocky Mountain goats gaining a permanent foothold in the La Grande area?

The possibility is remote but real.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reports there have been two Rocky Mountain goat sightings near La Grande in the past week and five since July 6.

The most recent sighting was at 6:15 p.m. on Sept. 1, when Richard Heinemann of La Grande spotted a mountain goat near the northwest Interstate 84 exit into town. Heinemann, who took photos of the mountain goat, said it was on the cliffs above the Grande Ronde River and the railroad tracks running along it.

The day before on Aug. 31, two confirmed individual mountain goat sightings were made in the Orodell area below Fox Hill, said ODFW biologist Leonard Erickson.

Confirmed sightings were also made:

? July 26 near Lower Perry

? July 12 on a rock face near Lower Perry

? July 6 on Glass Hill south of La Grande

The increase in confirmed sightings is significant since in the previous 15 years there had been just two in the La Grande area, Erickson said.

The July 26 sighting has biologists most intrigued since a male and a female were spotted together, Erickson said. This raises the possibility that mountain goats could begin reproducing here.

The mountain goats are likely coming to the La Grande area from the Elkhorns, Erickson said. The Elkhorns and the Wallowa Mountains both have established mountain goat populations. Erickson doubts that mountain goats are coming here from the Wallowas since they would have to cross the Grande Ronde Valley to get here.

It is not known if the mountain goats that have come here will stay. Erickson said it is likely that they will return to where they came from.

There are about 250 mountain goats in Wallowa County and 175 in the Elkhorns.

All of the goats are the descendants of transplants. Rocky Mountain goats were first released in the state in 1950. That year six mountain goats were brought to Wallowa Lake, according to Bill Brown, retired supervisor of the ODFW’s Northeast Region. There were no Rocky mountain goats in Oregon at that time, Brown told The Observer in an article which ran Aug. 8, 2003.

There is a strong body of evidence indicating that Rocky mountain goats are native to Oregon, according to the ODFW. This includes archeological evidence and descriptions of Rocky Mountain goats in the journals of early explorers.

The animal disappeared from Oregon before European settlement began in the state.