KAUKAUNA — The popular invasive-plant-eating goats have returned to 1000 Islands Environmental Center this week.
The voracious goats help get rid of invasive plants like buckthorn and other invasive plants in an environmentally friendly way, according to the center.
The goats, on loan from Mulberry Lane Farms, will be doing their work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until June 25, 2021.
They are used as a method of biological control in order to defoliate the invasive species, according to the 1000 Islands website.
As the plants are continually defoliated, their roots will lack nutrients that typically allow them to produce new shoots.
While other methods of control are available, they come with risks that could result in more harm than good being done.
Because of 1000 Islands’ location along the Fox River, using chemical control could contaminate the Fox River ecosystem as well as other native plant species.
Mechanical control is a means of removing each plant by hand, which is both timely and costly.
For these reasons, staff at 1000 Islands believe that the goats could offer an effective alternative to safely remove the invasive species.
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