https://reasonstobecheerful.world/goats-eating-invasive-species/
"If you take a stroll through a Pittsburgh city park, you might come across
Hobo the donkey and his crew of 12 goats scrambling up an embankment or chowing
down on poison ivy. Keep your dog on a leash, though, because Hobo doesn’t like
canines, and he takes his job as protector of the herd very seriously. If he
senses danger, he will round everyone up, then stomp, kick and bite to deter
any predator that he deems a threat to his pals and the job they’ve been
commissioned to do.
Hobo’s herd of goats is one of four Allegheny GoatScape hires out to
landowners, businesses and nonprofit organizations in the Pittsburgh area to
target plants designated by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and
Natural Resources as invasive and damaging to the ecosystem. Knotweed, an
invasive herb, and bittersweet vine, a plant that weighs down branches and in
worst-case scenarios uproots the tree, are among the smorgasbord of plants
goats will consume.
“By consuming a lot of biomass, goats significantly reduce the amount of
vegetation that needs to be treated with herbicide products,” says Brandon
McCracken, senior manager of ecological restoration for Pittsburgh Park
Conservancy (PPC), a nonprofit group partnering with the City of Pittsburgh and
local communities to improve the city’s park system.
Arriving at the worksite, the goats waste no time. Fences are erected to keep
them away from the public and a shelter is put up. “We generally calculate that
one acre of work takes roughly 12 or so days to complete,” says Gavin Deming,
executive director of Allegheny GoatScape. “There’s a little variation based on
topography. If it’s a steep hillside or there’s dense vegetation of vines and
bushes it might take a bit longer.”
In many cities, herbicides have traditionally been used to eradicate unwanted
vegetation. In New York, NYC Health reports that in 2022, liquid herbicide use
increased by 177 percent, due to the treatment of invasive plants in city
parks. Many herbicides, such as Round-Up, a popular weed killer, contain
glyphosate, allegedly linked to cancer. Herbicides can remain in the soil and
on plants, and during rain, they wash into streams and rivers, further
contaminating the ecosystem.
“There’s a need for goats pretty much all across the U.S.,” says Aaron Steele,
co-founder of Goats on the Go, a network of 75 affiliate goat businesses in 25
states — including California and New Mexico, where the goats aid in wildfire
prevention. In the steep hills of California’s Sierra Nevada region, for
instance, according to the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task
Force, the changing climate is impacting annual weather patterns, causing
drought and affecting snowpack accumulation and runoff. All this is putting the
region at an increased risk of fire.
Goats are sure-footed, and they enjoy scrambling up steep terrain and getting
to the vegetation that’s difficult for humans to eliminate. Considered
browsers, goats prefer woody plants, soft shoots and shrubs as opposed to
grazers, such as cows, who are happy chowing down on grasses and low-lying
vegetation. This makes goats ideal to clear areas of high-growing woody plants
that fuel wildfires."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
