Goats vs. the Sun Road

According to the official Web site for Glacier National Park, the Going-to-the-Sun Road is now 75 years old.

Let me get this straight. The Missoulian reports that as of this year, “to date, $130 million in federal money has been spent on the repairs.”

So after 75 years and after spending $130 million to repair the Going-to-the-Sun Road, taxpayers are going to fund a study which, according to your newspaper, will examine “how the Sun Road corridor and associated access points affect goats.”

If the road negatively impacts the goats at Logan Pass, will environmentalists sue to shut the road down after we spent $130 million to repair it?

After 75 years, don’t you think that the goats have learned to deal with humans and cars that pass through their corridors?

I wish that your newspaper reported on how many goats have been killed by cars after the 75 years that road has been opened.

Interesting to note that your paper reported that the research team hired to do this study tried a few years ago but killed two goats early in the process. So it begs the question — what poses a bigger threat to mountain goats at Logan Pass, cars or researchers?

Joe Novak

Polebridge