LETHBRIDGE, AB – Invasive weeds in a pair of Lethbridge parks are on the menu again this year for dozens of goats.
The animals will be chewing down in the Alexander Wilderness Park and at Indian Battle Park throughout the summer months.
The Creekside Goat Company in Magrath has been contracted once again to help get a handle on invasive weeds around the city.
Leafy spurge, wormwood, thistle, and crested wheat grass will be their main food source.
The 200 goats are actually trained to eat the weeds and mostly leave the grass alone, making this a much more environmentally friendly way to get rid of the weeds than having a truck and sprayer in city parks.
Municipalities like the City of Calgary have successfully used goats to control invasive weeds and manage vegetation in the past.
This same approach in the City of Lethbridge approach comes from the Lethbridge River Valley Parks Master Plan, which was approved in 2017.
On thing of note if you are visiting some of the city’s environmentally-sensitive areas this summer. Visitors are reminded that dogs and bicycles are not allowed in Alexander Wilderness Park, Cottonwood Park, Elizabeth Hall Wetlands or the Lethbridge Nature Reserve near Helen Schuler Nature Centre.