The City of Puyallup will embark on a new vegetation management project at Bradley Lake Park beginning Tuesday, May 23rd. For this project, we’ll enlist the help of some special four-legged friends: Goats will soon be munching their way through a selected area of the park to remove invasive plants. This pilot program, the first of its kind in Puyallup parks, will let us determine if goats can be effective in removing and helping to control the spread of invasive plants in our parks.
Goats are known to eat just about any plant, including English Ivy, Scotch Broom and blackberry bushes. When it comes to clearing unwanted vegetation, goats offer an environmentally-friendly alternative to machines and herbicides.
Some advantages of using goats for vegetation management:
- Eco-friendly, green, and sustainable
- Low impact on the environment
- Goats can go where people or machinery cannot go easily or safely
- They eat an enormous amount, which reduces the need to haul debris away
- Their digestive process naturally sterilizes weed seeds
- THEY ARE CUTE!
This pilot program, part of Invasive Plant Month, is being coordinated with “Rent-A-Ruminant,” a local company that provides vegetation management. Rent-A-Ruminant staff will be onsite to oversee the project. Park users are invited to observe the 80 to 100 goats in action, but please do not approach them. While viewing:
- Do not approach or touch any of the goats.
- Do not touch the electric fence, which is necessary to contain the goats in a certain area.
- All dogs must be kept on a leash.
For questions about the project, please contact the Puyallup Parks and Recreation Department at (253)841-5561.