Goat Herd To Clear Weeds At Riverside Park This Summer

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, NY — The group that oversees the maintenance of Riverside Park is enlisting the help of a herd of goats to clear weeds in a difficult-to-reach section of the park in Morningside Heights.

The goats will be brought into the park on May 21 to help clear a two-acre stretch of Riverside Park, located roughly between West 119th and 125th streets, of weeds such as porcelain berry, English ivy, mugwort, multiflora rose and poison ivy, according to the Riverside Park Conservancy. These weeds are considered invasive species harmful to the park's vegetation, according to the conservancy.

Goats are able to consume 25 percent of their body weight in vegetation and unlike humans are not affected by poison ivy, which makes them "natural weed whackers." By deploying the herd in areas that can be difficult for humans to work in — mainly parkland on steep slopes — it frees up conservancy staff to perform other maintenance projects. Goat fecal matter also adds nutrients to the soil, which will help desired plants grow, according to the Riverside Park Conservancy.

"Throughout the season, the goats will continuously consume the weeds all the way down to the roots, which stunts the plants’ normal growth trajectory by making them start all over — only to be eaten again. After a few months, the plants’ ability to grow will have been weakened, and perhaps eliminated altogether," the Riverside Park Conservancy's website reads.

The herd that will work Riverside Park hails from Green Goats farm in upstate Rhinebeck, the New York Daily News first reported. Manhattan native Larry Cihanek runs the farm and first started deploying his goats as weed whackers 14 years ago for a project at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, he told the paper.

"After that, the jobs just kept coming," Chinanek told the Daily News.

The Riverside Park Conservancy is calling its summer program "Goatham" — a play on New York City's nickname of Gotham. Gotham actually means "goat town" in Old English and was first meant as an insult to the city when it was introduced in the early 19th century, according to the conservancy.

The "Goatham" initiative will run between May 21 and Aug. 30, according to the Riverside Park Conservancy. Goats will be kept in a fenced-in area while they are working to ensure that none escape and that humans don't attempt to bother them while they're working.