The Bear Creek Garden Association is working to raise the necessary money to fund the return of the famous weed-eating goat herd that has visited Bear Creek Park for more than 20 years.
KOAA NEWS 5 SOUTHERN COLORADO | Oct 18, 2019
EL PASO COUNTY — Weed-eating goats have returned to Bear Creek Regional Park, a place they’ve been visiting for the past 21 years.
Five hundred goats arrived Thursday and will work in the park for 10 days to eat brush and weeds on 20 acres of the park.
The 20 acres are surrounding the Charmaine Nymann Community Garden.
El Paso County officials said gardeners raised the money to bring these goats in for organic weed control and make sure there is no need for weed-killing chemicals to be used near the garden.
Lani Malmberg and Donny Benz, her son, co-own the company Goat Green which manages the herd.
“They’re browsers, not grazers like cows, and will only eat the green grass as a last resort. They like the dry prickly things and the herd will eat two to three tons a day. What they eat, they recycle—pure organic fertilizer—back into the soil. Plus, their 2,000 hooves work the soil, aerating and mulching as they go,” Malmberg said in a press release.
County officials ask the public to keep dogs on their leashes in El Paso County Parks while the goats are out in Bear Creek Park because of past incidences.
The Bear Creek Garden Association raises about $8,000 a year to pay for the goats. Officials said hundreds of people visit the herd each year, as well as several school classes, are brought to the park to learn more about the goats.
