MAN: Mount St. Helens used to be a graceful cone...
9,600 feet tall,
and the 1980 eruption changed that.
For 123 years, it was dormant,
but today the volcano exploded with a powerful force
that turned daylight to dark.
MAN: Some people have described that as a traumatic eruption
that destroyed the mountain.
But the indigenous name for the mountain,
"Lawetlat'la," translates as "the smoker."
And so for the Cowlitz people,
the eruptive state of the mountain is who she is.
It's what she does.
JULE GILFILLAN: One thing the eruption also did
was turn that graceful cone
into a rugged crater with sheer cliffs and jagged ridges,
perfect terrain for mountain goats.
MAN: Historically, there weren't very many mountain goats
on Mount St. Helens -- in the neighborhood of 15-20.
We have to assume they were probably wiped out.
But mountain goats and bighorn sheep, you know,
their cover is actually steep cliffs.
They have excellent eyesight. They can see for many miles.
They can see predators that might be approaching,
things like that.
So the 1980 eruption basically created all this habitat.
In the years following the eruption,
Mitch Wainwright began hearing reports of goats
on Mount St. Helens.
We have a fairly large population of mountain goats
on Mount Adams and also the Goat Rocks Wilderness Area.
And the suspicion is that's where
this kind of starter population came from.
And as years went by, our trail crews especially
would report mountain goat sightings.
That kind of spurred me to think,
well, you know, it might be a good idea to get a handle
on how many goats we do have.
- So 6:00? - 6:00.
Mitch got in touch with
the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
and Nathan Reynolds, ecologist for the Cowlitz Indian Tribe.
Data forms and maps, compass.
WAINWRIGHT: Mount St. Helens itself is
a traditional cultural property of the Cowlitz Tribe.
I hope visibility improves.
So the three of us kind of got together
and put together this survey.
Good luck.
REYNOLDS: The first survey was in 2014.
We had eight teams surveying for mountain goats,
and we ended up with 65 goats on the mountain,
which was a bigger number than we had anticipated.
But we didn't look at all of the suitable goat habitat.
So in 2015, we expanded our footprint a little bit,
covered more area,
and in that year we saw 152 goats.
This year, the 2015 survey will be duplicated.
Ten teams will spread out around the mountain.
Each team will spend one hour
at the three stations on their route.
The surveys will be synchronized
so that all observations will be collected simultaneously.
REYNOLDS: We're on our way to our first station,
and I'm hoping that the fog is going to lift.
Could be a very easy survey.
Did seem to be breaking there for a little bit.
Nathan's three-station route will take him
and his partner Ted Huffman a total of about six miles.
So this is station one.
- Station one! - All right.
The first station is Windy Ridge,
which is usually a great place to spot goats.
[ birds chirping ]
I do see a white dot in the fog, but...
A white dot in the fog.
[ chuckles ]
An hour later, and with zero goats spotted...
REYNOLDS: Station one in the books.
it's time to move on.
Hope it clears up by the next site.
On the way, something catches Nathan's eye.
A goat came by as it was shedding
and left this wool.
The Cowlitz people have been occupying this landscape
for thousands of years.
Every summer they come to the mountains and collect wool
from the tips of huckleberry bushes or willows.
The wool was gathered, and then it was spun
and woven into blankets and capes.
Mountain goat wool weaving was common
all around the Puget Sound Salish.
The tradition ended with the arrival of Europeans
and the Hudson's Bay blanket.
With the return of the goats to the Mount St. Helens landscape,
the traditions of weaving can return
to the Cowlitz people as well.
That might be this morning's consolation prize.
Nathan will take this wool to tribal elders.
And we should point out that only Cowlitz Tribe members
are permitted to gather mountain goat wool
from Mount St. Helens -- it's not open to the public.
Got about 20 minutes.
Ted and Nathan make it to station two just in time
for a rare moment of clearing.
- See those goats up there? - Yep.
All right. We're not going to get totally blanked.
Yeah, looks like a nanny and two kids
on the left side of that draw.
One of the kids is looking at us.
Hey!
Should I put that in the comments?
[ Nathan laughs ]
We've been preparing for this survey for a couple of months.
And so the first time you see the goat,
that's what you're here for.
So it's like, yes, this is going to work after all.
There's five total, but now they're lost in the fog.
You know, the goats move around on this mountain,
and they're more like ghosts on the mountain in foggy days.
I hear a raven over there. It's laughing at us.
So three on the left side,
11 on the right-hand side of the draw?
- Yeah. - Okay.
Fourteen.
Up in the mist.
- HUFFMAN: Good? - Yeah, call it.
Station three is just a little over a mile away,
and it's close to Loowit Falls.
Luckily, the weather finally looks like
it might be clearing.
REYNOLDS: The single goat here, what's the bearing on that?
- 196. - 196.
There are 10 teams out here surveying,
and it's possible that one group of goats
could be seen by two teams.
So we record on the map where we see the goats.
It keeps us from double-counting.
There's two kids, not one.
Two kids over there?
Okay, so let's up our count there on F
from nanny and one to nanny and two.
Yep.
I've got eight so far here.
- Eight here? - Yep.
Okay.
The official end of the survey comes just in time.
If you look off to the west,
we've got some weather coming in.
Looks like it's going to rain in about 20 minutes.
So we're done with our third station.
We're going to pack up,
and it's time to get out of here.
Looks like it's really coming in over there.
And there it is.
When all the numbers are added up
and checked for double counts,
this year's survey counted 151 goats.
It's considered an undercount due to the weather.
REYNOLDS: It affects our year-to-year comparisons,
but that's what science and natural-world sampling
is all about.
What is clear is that mountain goats
have become well established on Mount St. Helens.
I think the goat populations will continue to increase,
but we don't really know how many goats
this landscape can support.
I suspect eventually, as vegetative recovery continues
and this area transitions back to forest,
the goat population will decline as well.
But I think that's on the scale of decades.