KAUKAUNA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Some visitors to a Fox Valley nature center are busy working to control unwanted plants there.
More than a dozen goats are chewing up invasive species and more at the 1000 Islands Environmental Center in Kaukauna.
“They just arrived this morning, so we’re not quite sure what we’re going to get. They are cute. I will tell you that,” said Debbie Nowak, 1,000 Islands Environmental Center Director, and Naturalist.
13 goats were scheduled to report for work early Monday.
Nowak tells FOX 11 the herd is brought to the nature center to help control invasive species growing at the site.
“Most of the plants that we find on the property is buckthorn, a pretty common invasive species. We have others, like honeysuckle, creeping jenny, or moneywort.”
Nowak says the goats typically work well as a team, but sometimes the animals need a little help. That’s when volunteers called Goat Watchers are called in to keep an eye on the group.
“They can actually go into the enclosure and bend down branches so that the goats can reach some more of the vegetation that they normally couldn’t.”
The goats typically work a 10-hour day gobbling up whatever they can. It is their third browsing session at the nature center.
“Our hope is by bringing the goats down repeatedly, they are going to be eating these plants down enough, that the plants run out of energy stores, and they’ll die off.”
After a few minutes, the goats seemed to be feeding just fine. Nowak says she’s not surprised.
“They’ll learn all of the fun and the treats that we’ve got in here for them. They’re pretty smart, and each year, we do this, they teach us a little bit more about goat management as well.”
The goats are scheduled to be at the nature center until October 4th.
Officials say the program could be expanded, and you may see more weed-eating goats at 1,000 Islands in the future.
