Washington State parks don't allow pack goats?

[Kat]

Update: I did get a reply from NPS/North Cascades after they re-opened, to my question of "why no pack goats in North Cascades National Park." Basically, because

1. Park Superintendent has not included the goat in the official list of what a pack animal is
(list here: https://www.nps.gov/noca/learn /management/superintendent- compendium.htm#horses ]  )

2. Fear of disease transmission to mountain goats.

I have sent a reply back, specifically asking about allowing usage on Little/Big Beaver & East Bank trails around Ross Lake.  And of course officially recognizing the pack goat as a pack animal

[Deborah Haney]

I got a reply from the parks commission. They said they'd add my suggestion to the agenda for their quarterly operations team rule review.

[Kat]

Interesting. Please post back what the outcome is from their meeting!

[Nanno]

Awesome! If they have concerns about disease transmission please let us know. NAPgA has a ton of resources and info about that exact subject.

[Kat]

I got a reply from the parks commission. They said they'd add my suggestion to the agenda for their quarterly operations team rule review.

Hope they have their meeting soon, I was just searching this morning for someplace to stay around Deception Pass State Park with the goats. The only 2 state parks in WA listed as "horse camping OK" are Battleground and Riverside which are of course nowhere near.  The park has 6 miles of horse trails that could be hiked with goats.  Frustrating... 

edit: would you mind giving me the email address of the person who emailed you about the meeting? I'd like to email them as well.

[Deborah Haney]

Ariel dot Kay at parks dot wa dot gov was the person who replied to my initial email and she Cced Becki dot Ellison at parks dot wa dot gov. I was looking into camping at battleground state park but was told that the only horse sites were group sites so I had to have at least 10 people AND my goats would have to stay in the horse accommodations at night. They're Nigerian Dwarves and would slip out of anything made for a horse in seconds. They usually sleep in my tent.

Edit: well never let it be said that I can't outsmart a glorified virus.

[Kat]

Thanks x2, good to know about Battleground.

[Nanno]

Glad you two are getting together over this! One word of caution about posting email addresses--phishing bots go all over the web looking for email addresses for spam purposes. If you wouldn't mind sending these via pm that would be great. Or you can edit them so they look like this:
becki dot ellison at parks dot wa dot gov. That will foil the phishing bots.

[Kat]

re: WA State Parks - I received this reply from Ariel Kay - indicating in WA one must contact each individual state park and ask permission to bring goats. (That is what I successfully did in OR.)  Her reply:

"There is no specific definition of what animals are classified as pets in Washington State Administrative Code that governs our rules. I would encourage you to contact the parks or park that you are visiting to discuss the park’s specific needs and or limitations to your possible visits."

Edit: I'm asking for clarification, that is a poorly written WAC in my opinion, it lumps sled dogs in with horses, etc. making it horribly confusing. Why would a "dog" be allowed but not a "sled dog" ???

[Deborah Haney]

It makes more sense if you think of it in terms of what it would do to the land. A team of 12 sled dogs hauling a sled and a person would do a lot more damage than one person walking one or two dogs. Horses are also disastrous to the land if they use trails more than once in a while, especially here, in the land of mud and erosion.