Clearing the bosque with goat power (NM)

The Albuquerque Tribune
April 13, 2006
By Melissa Birks

Seven hundred and twenty eyes, give or take a few, gaze at Sarah Harris as she stands outside the pen, puts her hands to her mouth and expels a one-word warble.

"GOOOatsss."

One thousand four hundred and forty hooved feet scoot toward their master. From the fence line backward, a sea of 360 goats in shades of brown, cream, butter, white and black stare with expectation. They've eaten a lot of vegetation in this 1-acre plot. Must be time to move on to the next bosque banquet.

"Blaaaaat," some say to Harris.

Turns out, she's just demonstrating her flock's well-tuned ears to a visitor. The goats give Harris a few moments of attention and then drift back into the pen.

Harris' goats are legal guest workers in the Rio Grande Valley State Park near La Orilla channel.

To the uninitiated, they appear to be "eating." In fact, they are "working," says Harris, who has operated Western Weed Eaters LLC for nine years.

This is the second year the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District has brought goats into the La Orilla area as four-legged, horned, hungry herbicide. The last time, in 2004, the herd did not belong to Harris, although she was a consultant.

The three-year pilot project is aimed at helping the district understand whether goats could be a cheap, effective way to clear weeds and fire fuel. The district has tapped the Legislature and its own money to pay the $150,000 cost.

Harris, 40, totes goats from site to site around the country, mostly in Western states. She has two full-time employees, a trailer where they live during a project, two trailers for hauling goats, and other equipment.

Using a cocktail of DNA from four species, Harris bred her own hearty strain of goat. She voice trains them at an early age, in case (as when a mountain lion got in a pen) they get loose and lost.

At her ranch in Lemitar, baby goats, after being weaned at two months, join others in pens flowing with vegetation like salt cedar.

Once goats clear a pen, they're shuffled to the next.

They follow the same routine on the job.

"They're just mowing it down," Harris says, showing remnants of salt cedar in this pen, one of three in the La Orilla site. "Not every goat would do that. These goats wouldn't get moved to a fresh pen until they finish feeding every day. Sometimes they get moved twice a day. They learn to target the weeds to move."

The district invites the public to watch the goats, said Sterling Grogan, goat project manager. Just be sure to keep dogs leashed.

If you happen upon them, here's some things to know:

Q: What's the goal of this project?

A: To consume non-native plants such as salt cedar and Russian olive as well as vegetation that could catch fire.

Q: It's been so dry this year. Has that affected the goats' menu?

A: Vegetation like salt cedar has been relatively thin this year, said Darren James, biological science technician with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Jornada Experimental Range. He's studying a similar project in Socorro, using about 500 of Harris' goats, and visits the La Orilla project about once a week.

"One of the main objectives with this (La Orilla) project is fire-fuel reduction. The goats are doing a great job with that," he said.

Q: How long are the goats here?

A: They started working March 16 and are expected to remain until sometime in April.

Q: Are goats as effective as chemicals or other methods of clearing?

A: It's unclear. The five-year study in Socorro, which started in 2003, has offered some early insight. Goats devour young salt cedar but they don't kill the mature plant, which grows too high for them to destroy, James said.

Goats cannot be used from May to September, because the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher nests in the bosque. James believes goats would be more effective if they were let loose during that time, when vegetation is growing.

Harris says her goats are performing the same job previously done by workers long-since vanished from the bosque: elk and deer.

"With goats, we're mimicking that natural progression of things," she says.

Q: Don't the goats also eat friendly vegetation, such as native grasses?

A: Yes, and one reason the Socorro study lasts five years is because it will take that long to see how goats affect salt cedar and native plants, James said.

"Goats are helpful in wiping the slate clean. But they don't have a magic wand and make native (plants) grow back," James said.

Q: Are goats cheaper than chemicals or other methods of clearing vegetation?

A: Again, it's too early to tell. Grogan said herbicides might be cheaper in the short run but goats might be more cost-effective in the long run. That's because herbicides require increasing amounts, time after time. "I liken chemical herbicides to drugs. Once you start, it's hard to know when to stop," Grogan said.

In addition, he said, the long-term environmental effects of herbicides are often unclear.

James said the Socorro study might show the most effective tool is using goats to consume understory vegetation before bringing in, for instance, chain saws to clear heavier remaining vegetation.

The point to remember, James said, is that science - and not the "bottom dollar" - should guide goat or no-goat decisions.

Q: What's next?

A: The Socorro study will be complete in 2008. Harris' goats return to the La Orilla area next year. After that, Grogan said, the district will determine whether to continue the effort.

"When we start speaking in absolutes, that goats are bad or good, that's a misinformed perspective," James said, noting that the bosque itself has been managed by man throughout the centuries.

"The truth is, it's (the bosque) a complex ecosystem. . . . The goats need to be adapted to each space and time. That's what we're finding out. There's no easy answer to the question."

NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for research and educational purposes.

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