Delaware County borough turns to a flock of goats to rescue its urban forests from invasive plants

MORTON, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A Delaware County community has gone to the … goats. Nineteen of them, to be exact. It’s part of a project to help clear some green spaces in the borough of Morton.

With names like Parsley, Liberty and Casper, the goats are giving Morton residents a helping hoof by clearing out some wooded lots. The flock is under a three-week contract to eat as much as they can, says William Stewart, borough manager.

“The goats are grazing on all of the ground coverings on the understory. So, it’s invasive species, such as English ivy, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac,” Stewart said.

Clearing them by hand would be an irritating, inflamed, itchy misery for borough employees — but the goats will chomp through more than 4 acres of the stuff quite happily because, unlike people, goats are not allergic to those poisonous plants.

And unlike using herbicides or gasoline-powered heavy equipment, the goats provide an environmentally sustainable method of clearing areas overrun with weeds and bushes, said Morton Borough Councilmember Michelle Miller.

“We didn’t want to use herbicides. It’s a lot of work for our maintenance people to do, our limited maintenance people. We’re a very small borough,” said Miller.

Stewart says the goats are part of a bigger plan: “Over a five-year period of time, the borough’s earmarked to spend about $350,000 to revitalize the urban forest areas in Sycamore Woods and Jacob’s Park.”

He says those areas of the borough have been overrun by invasive plants for years.

“Anything that is not conducive to a healthy environment in our urban forest is being managed by the goats,” Stewart said.

He says over those five years, the borough will replant and replenish the lots and make them user friendly for residents to enjoy.

And above all the practical considerations — who doesn’t love goats?

“It’s not only just eating and getting rid of these bad plants and everything, but it’s been a marvelous thing for the community,” Miller said. “People, they’ve just been excited.”

The flock is on rent from the company Amazing Grazing for a cost of $12,000, said Stewart — thanks to a grant from the Delco Green Ways Grant Program .