Fort Worth Botanic Garden gets creative with spring landscaping | Climate Connection
FORT WORTH — The Fort Worth Botanic Garden is getting creative with its spring landscaping. They've hired some new groundskeepers, but only for a limited time. They're cute, they're efficient, and it's a nod to a more economic and eco-friendly way of upkeep.
Some new kids are in town, at least at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. A herd of more than 60 goats has arrived, and they've been tasked with a big job!
"This is the first time here for goats, so we're pretty excited to be pioneering that," said horticulturist Karen Shuback.
They're being put to work, although they may not see it that way, eating their way through roughly three acres of forested area in the garden.
"The goats are here to sort of level the playing field and allow some of the natives to take over," Shuback said.
A feast will be had for these goats. Ligustrum, also known as privet, is a very aggressive native plant and the garden's #1 target species for the goat scapers. Also on the spread, nandina and winter creeper vine, a very fast-growing ground cover – which has caused quite a headache for the garden, according to Shuback.
"They shade out and take over areas where native plants can't establish, so they make it too shady," said Shuback. "Or in the case of ground cover, they just cover the whole ground so the seed bank that's under there can't grow – it doesn't receive sun. There's no way for it to get nutrients. They also climb up trees and they suffocate the trees."
This herd is going to provide a great research opportunity for scientists. Over 11 days, scientists will be able to try and gauge whether goat grazing could be a long-term viable option here at the botanic garden.
"We want to measure how the goats affect the treated area," Shuback said. "So we're going to do that by measuring the change in plants. We have some areas that are bare ground, so we're hoping that plants will establish there. We're measuring changes in diversity, changes in species richness."
The Fort Worth Botanic Garden is not the first to do this. Farmers, ranchers… many have done this for hundreds of years. But by using these animals to do what they do naturally, it can replace hundreds of hours of manpower, cut down on emissions from the use of heavy equipment, and even limit the need for certain herbicides.
"I think throughout the United States, we're really seeing a return to historic ecological practices that originally shape the landscape and reminding ourselves how important those are, and modern ways to incorporate those into the work we're doing," said Shuback.
A better experience for the environment. A better experience for guests. And certainly, a better experience for the goats.
This is all possible thanks to a grant from the Anita Berry Martin Memorial Fund in partnership with the North Texas Community Foundation. You can catch these goats in the botanic garden's Native Texas boardwalk area through April 15, and if all goes well, the garden hopes we'll be seeing more goat scapers in the years to come.