Goats hired to tackle invasive species at Doon Heritage Village

The Region of Waterloo recently recruited some four-legged workers to help tackle invasive species around the Doon Heritage Village in Kitchener.

Over 50 ‘herd-working’ goats were hired to get the job done this year as part of an innovative targeted grazing project in the forested area.

Regional Forester, Andrew Puchalski, said the goats came to town twice: once in early May for a planned event with the public, followed by a three-day working stint in June.

While it’s a first for the Region of Waterloo, controlled grazing is a well-established practice, and is becoming more popular in many municipalities as an alternative to using chemicals.

“The concern sometimes you have with goat grazing, is that they’ll eat everything: the good, the bad, and the ugly. So you lose that sense of control,” Puchalski explained. “But because in that section, the understory was predominantly all invasive species — and at that time of year, the invasive species are the first things to actually break bud — there was actually a very low risk of incidental damage to the desirable trees.”

Puchalski said the goats mowed down on European Buckthorn, Honeysuckle, and Manitoba Maple, which can crowd native species and slow forest regeneration if left unchecked.

The long-term goal is to weed out the invasive species and damage the understory through continual grazing so it stays focused on regrowth, instead of directing energy into the root system.

“My thought is after two, three or four seasons — in a natural way without the use of chemical herbicide or human labour — we can really hit it where it hurts in a very natural way.”

The goats worked around the clock while they were on-site, even spending the night at the Doon Heritage Village during their most recent visit.

While Puchalski thinks they had a pretty effective impact, it’ll take a bit more time to see the full effects.

“That invasive species, it’s not quite done at this point, it will continue to regrow there in that location, but the thought is that we’ll bring the goats back in at some point next year and try to do this again for another one or two treatments, and continue to monitor and see are we having a meaningful impact on the understory.”

Puchalski said once the land isn’t occupied by those pesky invasive species, the goal is to either allow natural trees to grow on their own, or plant native trees that can succeed in that forest.

The goats themselves aren’t locals as they’re employed by King City-based Goats in the City, but they’re not unfamiliar to our region, as they were hired by the Ministry of Transportation last year to clear brush and greenery in Kitchener.

Puchalski noted Doon Heritage Village itself has its own goats, so there’s a potential they could be used for grazing in future seasons.

He also highlighted the Doon Regional Forest as one of 17 regional forests in our community.

“Almost all of them are publicly accessible, we have some form of trails in them. They’re not managed like your conventional urban park, they’re much more natural.”

Puchalski said it’s a unique opportunity for anyone in Waterloo Region to get out and feel like they’re immersed in a diverse forest setting in our own backyard.