July 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 41

Until recently, however, there have
been few good alternatives to herbicide use. The city of Fayette, Arkansas, has had to deal with the spread of
certain invasive and indigenous plant
species in their parks and they have
started looking for innovative solutions as well as traditional methods.
The Fayette Parks and Recreation
Division has mobilized a corps of citizen volunteers, according to Kristina
Jones, their volunteer and community program coordinator, who donated more than 1,400 hours last year
in their Adopt-A-Park program. " We
are looking for innovative ways to
tackle these weeds. If we don't there
is just no way we can keep our parks
usable and enjoyable, " she says.
Enter the goats. Connie Rieper-Estes, a local owner of a small goat
farm and business named Greedy
Goats Green Yard Care, saw a Facebook post about the park and recreation department doing invasive
plant control with volunteers. " I
clicked 'like' and one thing led to another and we connected, " Rieper-Estes says. A plan was devised to help
with invasive plant control at Fayette Parks and Recreation properties, and Greedy Goats volunteered
their herds in the Adopt-a-Park program. " Goats will eat just about everything when they are let loose in
an area, " Rieper-Estes says. " They
just love poison ivy - it is like candy to them. And they love Chinese
privet, bush honeysuckle, vine honeysuckle, Callery pear - you name
it, they'll eat it. "
Byron Humphrey, Fayette's park
maintenance superintendent, had
heard about goats being used for
vegetation control from a citizen in
Stillwater, Oklahoma, so he was favorable to the idea. He said his park
department didn't want to buy goats

themselves, but when Greedy Goats
offered their services he was willing
to give it a try. The site chosen for the
goats' initial salad bar was in one of
Fayette's more-frequented parks. It
was a natural area on a steep slope
that became overgrown and is now
unmowable. " This project will get a
lot of exposure and create a lot of
awareness, " Humphrey says.
Perhaps one of the best outcomes
of the project is the public awareness
and education opportunities created
to highlight the impacts of invasive
species. Volunteer coordinator Jones
says, " We are capitalizing on this
project to educate the public, some of
whom have never even heard of invasive species. " She noted that the Fayette City Council is considering legislation to regulate invasive species
so the timing of this project is very
helpful. With significant media attention and buzz in the local community, people are learning not just about
how goats can control vegetation,
but about the impacts and economic
damage that invasives can cause.
" According to my research, " says
Rieper-Estes, " there are about 60
businesses like mine around the
country. " John Sydnor, executive
director of the Enrichmond Foundation in Richmond, Virginia, has
been enthusiastic about using goats
for overgrown landscapes in the city
of Richmond's parks and has helped
coordinate several park projects, including one fully funded by a Kickstarter campaign. Depending on the
size of Enrichmond's projects, they
have used one or two sheepherding
dogs as guard animals. They even
coined a new term for what they are
doing - " goatscaping. " Presently,
Sydnor says his company is working
on a project to establish an apple orchard and using goats to clear an area

totally overgrown with kudzu. His
answer to what the best outcomes of
goatscaping were for the Richmond
Department of Parks, Recreation
and Community Facilities: " We are
helping the city in a way they could
not really do themselves. It's environmentally friendly, and best of all,
it has brought great publicity to our
foundation and the city. "
One consideration for park agencies has been the cost of goatscaping,
both direct and indirect. " We don't
know how to place a dollar value
on this in order to compare it to the
value of volunteer service, " Jones
says, " but it has gotten a ton of attention. " Fayetteville is also evaluating the amount of time and resources needed to set up and monitor its
program. Greedy Goats is providing
all services, including set up of an inner electric fence and an outer orange
safety fence, and bringing the goats to
the site every day. They even brought
a baby goat for kids to pet - no petting of the adult goats is permitted.
While Rieper-Estes has volunteered
her goats through the Adopt-a-Park
program, most other goat businesses
simply contract with park and recreation agencies for their services.
Rieper-Estes says, however, " We have
already gotten business from this project. People called us and said, 'This is
exactly what I have been looking for.
We don't want to use poisons, and we
don't care how long it takes.' "
Goats may be the next big thing in
invasive weed control in parks, but
Sydnor of Enrichmond Foundation
says, " We are now looking at donkeys. Not only do they eat the kudzu, but they are fantastic guard animals as well. "
Richard J. Dolesh is NRPA's Vice President of
Conservation and Parks (rdolesh@nrpa.org).

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