A piece of airport land plagued by both invasive plants and human trash is looking to spruce up with the help of a herd of goats hired on to eat for two weeks.
“As long as many folks here can recall, the woods have been infested with English ivy,” explained Allison Waldick, environment officer for the Victoria Airport Authority. “We needed something to help kick things off and build some momentum.”
English ivy was once introduced as a quick-growing thick cover for walls and ground. Now out of control, it can grow so dense it suppresses native plants and climbs trees, reducing their lifespan and leaving them more susceptible to wind damage.
“Now that I’ve been working here in the woods, I see it everywhere and I can’t un-see it. It’s inspired me in my own neighbourhood.”
The goal is to protect the trees and other native species in the 30 acres of wooded area adjacent to the Victoria International Airport in North Saanich.
Inspired by a Ladysmith Chronicle story detailing how a homeowner hired a herd of goats to clear a boulevard overrun with ivy and more, Waldick set out in search of goats for hire.
Armed with a micro-grant, she first tasked 10 four-legged Vancouver Island Goatscaping staffers with a targeted browsing pilot project in June.
“It’s pretty cool to see the before and after of their work,” Waldick said. “They eat the leaves off the vines and leave the vines intact, this reduces the biomass of the forest and we can remove what remains.”
Some lessons were learned ahead of a second round – again grant-funded – that wrapped just ahead of Thanksgiving.
“We’re tailoring it as we go.”
The first round saw them moving the goats three times – putting up and taking down fencing. The second round was about selecting the right space, and something larger to see how they’d work with it.
Also, goats find deciduous bark tasty and clip a tree clean before embarking on less flavourful vegetation.
“You can’t program a goat and tell them exactly what they should be eating,” she said. “They eat everything in order of tastiness and tenderness, and ivy is like Brussels sprouts.”
That meant figuring out the size and space needed for best removal efforts – attempting to narrow the smorgasbord spread and focus. Fencing was also reinforced on the second round, and some goats got air tags as an added precaution.
“We had a couple naughty goats who were trying to escape on the first round,” Waldick explained.
The environment officer emphasizes the airport forest is private property. While they battle the invasive, it is also prone to some of the human problems seen in other wooded areas – dumping yard waste and trash.
She stresses the value in responsible disposal of landscaping waste. And while it’s private land, people are known to traverse the trails there.
“If you do happen to see the goats, just leave them be and do their work as employees of the airport.”
