Prospect Park Goats Leave For Winter — With Uncertain Future Ahead

PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN — The crew of goats that have been chewing away at invasive plants in Prospect Park have left Brooklyn for the winter and returned to their home in upstate New York.

And it's unclear if they will return next year, according to one of the park staffers overseeing their work, since they've been so effective while munching away.

"Right now we’re just saying no, but that’s not a hard no," Christian Zimmerman, Vice President of Capital and Landscape Management at the Prospect Park Alliance, told Patch. "But sure, we're leaving the area fenced in, so we can make that assessment at that time."

The goats, from a farm in Rhinebeck, New York, were first brought in to Brooklyn's Backyard last year, to help clear some honeysuckle, poison ivy and other intrusive plants that sprung up after Hurricane Sandy wiped out some of the park's tall trees.

They chewed away at a fenced-off section of the Vale of Cashmere, in the northern section of the park. A crew of goats returned there this summer, and Zimmerman said that area is now ready for native plants to be put down.

Those have included oak, maple and dogwood trees, along with spice bush, aster and golden rod, Zimmerman said.

"Most of them are all either good food sources for birds or habitat as well," Zimmerman said of the plants. "Because that’s a big birding area. Birds really like that spot. It's protected, and it's usually when they migrate going south. It's the first green patch in the park that they hit, so they land right there. It's a warblers paradise, I’ve been told."

A new group of goats was brought in around July to chomp away on Lookout Hill, in the southwest section of the park.

There, scientists are now going to wait out the winter time and see what plants come up during the spring before deciding how to proceed clearing weeds in that area. That could involve bringing a group of goats back to work next year or leaving them upstate.

"I think they did well. They’re very good at knocking things down," Zimmerman said about the goats' progress. "What we're assessing now is next spring, what if anything comes back — we're assuming something's gonna come back — and to what extent? So it's kind of a long term analysis."

Whether or not they return, Zimmerman said their presence has been a big positive, especially because workers didn't need to use any chemicals to fend off the invasive plants.

"I would say it's a success for sure," he said. "And now we’re just trying to see how successful."

Photo by Marc Torrence, Patch Staff