diff --git a/dev-environment.yml b/dev-environment.yml
index 1af2e11b..cc250f91 100644
--- a/dev-environment.yml
+++ b/dev-environment.yml
@@ -40,7 +40,10 @@ dependencies:
 #  - richdem
 
   - pip:
-    - noisyopt
     - scikit-gstat>=1.0.11
     - -e ./
+
+    # Development-specific
+    - noisyopt
+
 #     - git+https://github.com/GlacioHack/GeoUtils.git
diff --git a/environment.yml b/environment.yml
index 4d3f90ec..377bec35 100644
--- a/environment.yml
+++ b/environment.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ dependencies:
   - pip
 
   - pip:
-    - noisyopt
     - scikit-gstat>=1.0.11
 
 
diff --git a/xdem/coreg/affine.py b/xdem/coreg/affine.py
index e88a538c..d77cdc95 100644
--- a/xdem/coreg/affine.py
+++ b/xdem/coreg/affine.py
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 import scipy.ndimage
 import scipy.optimize
 from geoutils.raster import RasterType, get_array_and_mask
-from noisyopt import minimizeCompass
 from tqdm import trange
 
 from xdem._typing import NDArrayf
@@ -41,6 +40,13 @@
 except ImportError:
     _HAS_P3D = False
 
+try:
+    from noisyopt import minimizeCompass
+
+    _has_noisyopt = True
+except ImportError:
+    _has_noisyopt = False
+
 ######################################
 # Generic functions for affine methods
 ######################################
@@ -950,6 +956,9 @@ def _fit_pts_func(
 
         """
 
+        if not _has_noisyopt:
+            raise ValueError("Optional dependency needed. Install 'noisyopt'")
+
         # downsampling if downsampling != None
         if self.downsampling and len(ref_dem) > self.downsampling:
             ref_dem = ref_dem.sample(frac=self.downsampling / len(ref_dem), random_state=42).copy()