JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Goat a load of this!
A team of about 55 goats is lending extra hooves to clear out nuisance vegetation in Hanna Park sustainably. It’s part of a program with the city of Jacksonville and Goats on the Go Jacksonville Northwest.
Nikki Gunter, owner of Goats on the Go, said the project will be completed in two phases.
“What the goats are out here doing right now is on a demonstration of phase one and phase two. So this is about a 5- to 6-acre demonstration, and we’ve essentially started moving them on Aug. 12 to different paddocks, no more than about an acre or more,” Gunter said.
Victoria Albright, the park manager for Hanna Park, said the idea to work with Goats on the Go was part of finding a creative solution to not being able to do prescribed burns in the area because of how close the park is to the Navy base and homes.
“The goats have been hard at work. We’re seeing good progress in the areas where there’s greater visibility, control of the nuisance vegetation in the area. So we’re really excited about that. They’re going to be doing a 6-acre sort of pilot. We’ll assess the progress of the project, and then go from there,” Albright said.
The goats are also nifty at getting to challenging places that heavy machinery can’t reach.
Albright said the initial 6 acres cost $4,500.
“In the long term, I would say it’s less expensive,” Albright said. “We do use standard lawn equipment and maintenance techniques in the more accessible areas of the park, but for the scope of the land that we have here and the density of the vegetation, I think that this is really a great way to go.”
Phases one and two will last into September with the hopes of continuing the project for about a year.
Gunter said this opportunity helps educate the community and also brings awareness to different ways people can help the environment.
“It’s going to allow people to come and see that we are a part of that push for sustainability and land management. There’s a lot of nuisance areas here in Jacksonville that some people are like, you know, don’t really want to go into and maybe it’s too costly. Well, now you have a solution for that. You call us out. We’ll come and we’ll set up and get the herd to clear that area,” Gunter said.