Well, chew on this— Over the next 10 days, the Olmsted Conservancy’s South Park bog garden will be home to a herd of goats.
Whether the goats know it or not, the chew crew has a mission to eliminate invasive species in this part of the park by eating them away. The Olmsted Parks conservancy teamed up with Let’s Goat Buffalo for the project.
Goatscaping has become a more popular way of naturally removing invasive species. The goats at South Park will eat cattails to test the effectiveness of this method. Recently, goatscaping has also cleared up areas in Como Park in Lancaster and at Hotel Henry in Buffalo. While bees and butterflies don’t like the invasive species in these areas, they don’t harm the goats when its consumed.
“They’re able to eat everything that you see in here. We always go through before and see if there’s anything toxic to them," Jennifer Zeitler, Let’s Goat Buffalo owner said.
"What’s nice about this is when invasive species are removed, you’re giving native species a chance to compete—things like bergermont and milk weed, and things that bees and butterflies love— they have a chance to come back, they’re being crowded out right now. And what’s nice about goats is when they eat, they sterilize what they’re eating so when they put it out in their waste it’s not regrowing or reseeding which can happen with mowing," she continued.
If you’re in the area and see the goats, keep in mind they shouldn’t be pet or fed.
Olmsted Parks will wait to see if the project is successful before deciding if the goats will visit other areas and parks.