Bear Creek Park Garden’s team of weed-management goats are back in action
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Bear Creek Park Garden Association's weed management team of between 500 and 800 goats is back for the growing season, the association announced.
According to Bear Creek Garden's website, the Bear Creek Garden Association takes donations each year to help bring Lani Malmberg's herd of 500 and 800 weed-eating cashmere goats to the park for weed management.
The goats are celebrating their 25th year in Bear Creek Regional Park in 2024. The weed-management team will spend the next ten days controlling weeds in the area. The Garden Association adds that the El Paso County Parks & Community Services Department does not spray harmful herbicides on the grazing areas.
According to the Bear Creek Garden Association, Cashmere goats have a particular sweet tooth for noxious weeds, plus they have unique enzymes in their digestive systems which allow them to eat and digest these weeds without becoming ill, and once the seeds from these weeds pass from their bodies, they can no longer germinate, thus reducing the weed population and allowing native grasses a better chance to grow and survive.
Goat browsing for noxious weed management, wildfire mitigation and soil regeneration is steadily growing across the country. Within Colorado Springs, groups of homeowners along Mesa Road, Friendship Lane and Commons Road have also hired Lani and her goat herd for several years to help reduce the danger of wildfire.
The Bear Creek Garden Association is especially partial to hiring Wyoming goat herder, Lani Malmberg. Lani has an advanced degree in Weed Science from Colorado State University and is an acknowledged national expert on noxious weed and wildfire mitigation and soil reclamation.
