Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt intervened late Friday to stop Grand Teton National Park officials from culling the park’s mountain goats by helicopter.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and the chief of his wildlife department had reached out to Grand Teton at the last minute Friday to try to stop contracted gunners from killing the Tetons’ nonnative mountain goats.

Gordon’s office said Bernhardt became involved after the governor shared “a strongly-worded letter” he’d sent to Grand Teton officials. In the letter, Gordon criticized the Park Service’s choice to “act unilaterally aerially executing mountain goats over the State of Wyoming’s objections.”

“I will remember your blatant disregard for the advice of Wyoming’s Game and Fish Department,” Gordon wrote Grand Teton Acting Superintendent Gopaul Noojibail.

The park started the helicopter operation — causing a public closure of much of the Tetons — on Friday. The flights were supposed to continue through the weekend.

In a Monday statement, Gordon thanked Bernhardt for ordering Grand Teton officials to “stand down.”

“I appreciate the excellent working relationship we have with Secretary Bernhardt and that he is willing to discuss this issue in more detail without the pressure of ongoing aerial hunting,” Gordon said. “I look forward to a more fruitful conversation about better ways to address this issue in a more cooperative manner.”

The State of Wyoming has supported the park’s goal of eradicating the exotic Teton goats, because they pose a threat to a fragile population of native bighorn sheep.

The method for getting the job done, however, has been a point of contention.

When the park’s goat removal efforts were in the planning stages, Wyoming Game and Fish lobbied for allowing hunting using “skilled volunteers.” Park officials authorized hunting in their plans, but later announced they would start out using rifles and shotguns from a contracted aircraft.

Hunting is not typically allowed on National Park Service property, but a provision in the 2019 John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act allows for the use of “qualified volunteers” to kill wildlife for population reduction purposes.

Grand Teton spokesman Denise Germann had declined to grant an interview Thursday afternoon and declined to answer questions about the operation.

“We value the perspective of our state partners,” Germann had written in an email ahead of the hunt, “and will continue to discuss how to best achieve our mutual goals to protect the native Teton Range bighorn sheep herd.”

(Tribune Editor CJ Baker contributed reporting.)