Goats in the Garden
The Garden is getting goats!
With the generous support of the Anita Berry Martin Memorial Fund at North Texas Community Foundation, the Garden will be gettin’ some goats! That’s right. In April of 2024, we’ll be hosting a small herd of goats (plus some sheep friends, like the curly-horned ones in the picture here) to help us clean up the Native Texas Boardwalk. Stay tuned for more goat-related events and opportunities around the Garden!
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WHAT: Goats to eat the weeds
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WHEN: April 5-15, 2024 (events to possibly include earlier and later dates)
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WHERE: Fort Worth Botanic Garden, Native Texas Boardwalk
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HOW: Funding from Anita Berry Martin Memorial Fund at North Texas Community Foundation
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ACTIVITIES: Stay tuned!
But…WHY?
The 3-acre Native Texas Boardwalk (NTB) area at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden currently includes exotic invasive plant species such as privet, nandina, and photinia as well as aggressive native plant species such as cherry laurel, greenbriar, and muscadine. These unwanted species have spread through the area, outcompeting and negatively impacting mature trees and outpacing our ability to control them. Historically, natural processes such as fires, flooding, and grazing together maintained the ecological balance of native Texas forests. So in the absence of resident grazing animals here at the Garden, we’re hoping a borrowed band of browsing goats will fill this ecosystem gap and help tip the management scales back in our favor.
Goat herd grazing is a management strategy already in practice by nature centers, airports, ranches, and private residences in Texas and other states. Research shows positive impacts of goat grazing, including decreased fire fuels, increased species diversity, and soil enriched by goat waste. The benefits of selectively allowing goats to graze on our site should include fewer manhours devoted to manual and mechanical invasive species removal and reduced or eliminated use of motorized and heavy equipment operations, thereby reducing emissions and providing a quieter, more positive experience for guests.
A Research Opportunity
With the help of an undergraduate student intern, the Horticulture and Research teams will collect data during this pilot project to determine whether goat grazing is a viable option for long-term managment at the Garden. Those research plans and any eventual findings will be shared here. Watch this space!
Acknowledgments
This project would not be possible without funding from the Anita Berry Martin Memorial Fund at North Texas Community Foundation. North Texas Community Foundation drives meaningful change through charitable investment. The Foundation helps donors meet the needs of our community by providing tax-efficient strategies to support the causes they care about most. At the core of everything they do is a network of generous individuals, families and businesses intent on shaping the future of North Texas for good, forever. The Foundation has $519 million in assets and made grants totaling approximately $30 million in 2021. Learn more at northtexascf.org.
Goats in the Garden
The Garden is getting goats!
With the generous support of the Anita Berry Martin Memorial Fund at North Texas Community Foundation, the Garden will be gettin’ some goats! That’s right. In April of 2024, we’ll be hosting a small herd of goats (plus some sheep friends, like the curly-horned ones in the picture here) to help us clean up the Native Texas Boardwalk. Stay tuned for more goat-related events and opportunities around the Garden!
-
WHAT: Goats to eat the weeds
-
WHEN: April 5-15, 2024 (events to possibly include earlier and later dates)
-
WHERE: Fort Worth Botanic Garden, Native Texas Boardwalk
-
HOW: Funding from Anita Berry Martin Memorial Fund at North Texas Community Foundation
-
ACTIVITIES: Stay tuned!
But…WHY?
The 3-acre Native Texas Boardwalk (NTB) area at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden currently includes exotic invasive plant species such as privet, nandina, and photinia as well as aggressive native plant species such as cherry laurel, greenbriar, and muscadine. These unwanted species have spread through the area, outcompeting and negatively impacting mature trees and outpacing our ability to control them. Historically, natural processes such as fires, flooding, and grazing together maintained the ecological balance of native Texas forests. So in the absence of resident grazing animals here at the Garden, we’re hoping a borrowed band of browsing goats will fill this ecosystem gap and help tip the management scales back in our favor.
Goat herd grazing is a management strategy already in practice by nature centers, airports, ranches, and private residences in Texas and other states. Research shows positive impacts of goat grazing, including decreased fire fuels, increased species diversity, and soil enriched by goat waste. The benefits of selectively allowing goats to graze on our site should include fewer manhours devoted to manual and mechanical invasive species removal and reduced or eliminated use of motorized and heavy equipment operations, thereby reducing emissions and providing a quieter, more positive experience for guests.
A Research Opportunity
With the help of an undergraduate student intern, the Horticulture and Research teams will collect data during this pilot project to determine whether goat grazing is a viable option for long-term managment at the Garden. Those research plans and any eventual findings will be shared here. Watch this space!
Acknowledgments
This project would not be possible without funding from the Anita Berry Martin Memorial Fund at North Texas Community Foundation. North Texas Community Foundation drives meaningful change through charitable investment. The Foundation helps donors meet the needs of our community by providing tax-efficient strategies to support the causes they care about most. At the core of everything they do is a network of generous individuals, families and businesses intent on shaping the future of North Texas for good, forever. The Foundation has $519 million in assets and made grants totaling approximately $30 million in 2021. Learn more at northtexascf.org.
