How many goats did the Conservancy actually remove?
• There is actually quite an extensive history of goat removal on the Island by various agencies on Catalina dating back to the 1860s, long before there was a Conservancy. The earliest confirmed record of an established goat population on Catalina is 1827. In the 1860s during the Civil War period and a mining boom on the Island, the goats were used for meat and also sold to mainland southern California. At highest count, the population of non-native goats on the Island was estimated to be 25,000-30,000. In 1956, the Santa Catalina Island Company began organized goat control through erecting fences and hunting. Periodic control efforts continued until 1990 when the Conservancy began its concerted efforts. • Between 1990 and 2004, the Conservancy and partners removed the remaining 8,200 non-native goats, with three spayed female goats left on the Island. The goats were denuding the wildlands that had suffered from intensive grazing pressure for nearly 200 years, causing extensive erosion
