Over the past five summers, the goats have successfully cleared the slopes at 120th Street, allowing the human staff to install native understory and large trees, protecting the mature tree canopy. This past summer, the hard-working goats were assigned a new job site at West 143rd Street, where they munched on poison ivy and other invasive plants. Preparations for this site, including a new goat enclosure, were possible thanks to the support of Amazon, Con Ed, and a generous anonymous neighbor.
The goats’ new location at the West 143rd Street slope aligns with the Conservancy’s North Park Initiative, which focuses on bringing more resources, maintenance, and programming to the uptown sections of the Park. In order to ensure all neighbors can enjoy quality parkland, the Conservancy has made strides to address the years of neglect and disinvestment in these areas, efforts which include the addition of new public programming at the natural shoreline at 145th Street and new outdoor exercise equipment at 151st Street in partnership with Outletics.
Why Goats?
As part of our Woodland Restoration Initiative, Riverside Park Conservancy has spent countless hours of volunteer and staff time over the last 15 years to control invasive species.
Unfortunately, it has been difficult to make progress in areas with steep slopes. Some of the species of plants that have proven most difficult to control are Porcelain Berry, English Ivy, Mugwort, Multiflora Rose and Poison Ivy, among several other species. These plants and vines have dominated two acres of the degraded woodland that we are working to improve.
Riverside Park’s goats are like a herd of full-time professional weeding staff. They are able to traverse difficult, hard-to-reach places, and can also gulp down poison ivy without a second thought. This frees up human hands — and significant portions of time — to work on other components of restoration.
Goats and their giant appetites have been widely used by farmers, and recently, by nearby parks to assist in controlling and suppressing the growth of these detrimental invasive plants. Not only to goats eat almost constantly — they can consume 25% of their own body weight in vegetation in just one day — but their fecal matter adds nutrients to the soil as they go. It’s an all around win — a sustainable, chemical-free method of removing invasive species from a landscape.
The Process
We have hosted goats for five summer seasons – in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Stay tuned to hear about the 2025 season!
Throughout the season, the goats continuously consume the weeds all the way down to the roots, which stunts the plants’ normal growth trajectory by making them start all over — only to be eaten again. After a few seasons of eating, the plants’ ability to grow will have been weakened, and perhaps eliminated altogether.
Please contact us for ways to get involved.
BEFORE/AFTER AT 143RD STREET
