The Goats Tackling Ontario’s Invasive Plant Problem

Phragmites (pronounced frag-mite-eez) might look like your garden-variety extra-large reed, but the invasive grass poses a massive threat to green spaces across Ontario, choking out other plants and destroying habitats for wildlife. In the last few years, the species has hit the Niagara Region particularly hard, thanks to a fertile, marshy landscape that makes it challenging to stop the spread. The provincial government just earmarked $13 million to fight phragmites over the next three years, but in Niagara, the Green Grazers, a 40-strong team of goats, are already on the case. 

This summer, the Grazers have been chomping on the enemy in Gonder’s Flats, a natural preservation area in Fort Erie, following a successful pilot project that saw them eating for eight hours each day. Victoria Kaleniuk, the Niagara Parks environmental planning technician who initiated the pilot (and gave the goats their name), says the herbivorous, four-stomached animals are uniquely qualified to tackle the problem. Here, she discusses the origins of Niagara’s fearsome goat squad and how they can prevent a phragmites-filled future for us all.

Let’s start with an overview of invasive phragmites. Why is this plant such bad news?

Phragmites has really taken off in Ontario over the last few years. We know that it arrived in North America from Europe a few decades ago, but we can’t be certain how. This plant does really well in wetlands, which we have a lot of in Niagara. In Gonder’s Flats, we’ve been working on a wetland restoration project over the last few years, removing concrete and creating new trails. Then phragmites moved in. It spreads very quickly—much more so than native species, and its roots can grow 10 feet underground in a single season. They’re so dense that they make it impossible for other species to survive. 

This sounds like the making of a post-apocalyptic HBO series. Pedro Pascal vs. the Giant Phrag! 

Ha! Phragmites can do a lot of damage to existing ecosystems. It starts by outcompeting plant life for food and water. Then you start to lose the wildlife that feed on those plants: deer, coyotes, raccoons. We’ve lost turtles because the phragmites suck up all of their water. Left unchecked, they grow into extremely dense masses, almost like a wall, so you can no longer walk on the land. A couple of staff at the park have ripped open the rubber soles of their boots on the stalks, like the world’s worst paper cut. Plus, traditional solutions don’t work very well in the wetlands.

What kinds of traditional options? 

There are mechanical ones, like tractors or large lawnmowers, but the terrain is so wet and uneven that they don’t work. Herbicides aren’t an option, because the chemicals will run into the water and destroy other wildlife, too. We conduct annual burns to get rid of older phragmites that dry out over the colder months, but you can’t just keep burning the new plants that grow every spring. It’s a really tricky situation. 

So, at some point, you were like, Wait a second. What about goats? 

I started doing research and read about a few different places around North America where goats are being used to control phragmites. At Ontario Power Generation’s Niagara location, phragmites were getting in the way of employees being able to access job sites. They brought in goats a few years ago and it’s been very successful. I wanted to buy Niagara Parks our own goats, but that would have meant training and housing them, so my bosses weren’t convinced. We compromised by reaching out to the same farmer who provided the goats to OPG. He let us borrow 40 of them for a week. Every day, they were brought over on a trailer. We chose three pockets of land where the phragmites were particularly thick, fenced them off and let the goats do their thing. They already knew what they were doing, which made things a lot easier for us.

What are the goats’ tasks, exactly?

This summer’s stalks were only about five feet tall, but phragmites can grow to three times that height, at least. The goats will mount the stalks to kick them over; after that, they can start eating. They stayed for about eight hours, with a break for digestion around lunchtime. They managed to clear the land we’d fenced off—about half an acre—before the week was over, so we were able to do a bit more.

They’re not eating the roots, so won’t the phragmites just grow back?

Yes, but by munching down the stalks, the goats reduce the amount of nutrients that get to the roots. That makes a big difference with respect to spread. Clearing phragmites isn’t something that happens overnight. The plan is to have the goats back to eat whatever grows in the fall and repeat the cycle over time. 

Who named them “the Green Grazers?”

That was me. I was applying for a grant to cover the pilot project and I figured a catchy name would be a good idea. 

Apparently, deer won’t eat phragmites. Why do goats love it so much?

Goats will eat anything! They’re known as the bush hogs of the farming world. Deer tend to be a lot more selective. Goats also have a certain way of chewing—side-to-side—that allows them to break down strong plants. They also have an enzyme in their saliva that helps them to digest phragmites. The seeds are neutralized in their stomachs, so they don’t spread when the goats poop them out. 

There must be a lot of that. 

It’s a natural fertilizer. The goats aerate the ground with their hooves, too. That’s also good for soil health.

Can you share any good goat bloopers?

I’m not sure about bloopers, but I think a lot of the people who came to see the goats in action were a bit underwhelmed. These aren’t petting goats, so they’re not especially friendly or interested in interacting with humans—or with each other. All 40 of the goats were male. If we added females, not much would’ve gotten done.

I thought that was rabbits…

Oh, no. Goats, too. 

Did you have a favourite goat? A G.O.A.T. goat?

Tim. Multicoloured and easy to spot. He was older, so a leader within the group. As I said, phragmites becomes so thick that it’s almost like walking into a wall. That can be intimidating, especially for the younger goats. Tim showed them that there was nothing to be afraid of. 

Caterpillars are also being used to control phragmites elsewhere in Ontario. Any sense of how they compare, performance-wise, to goats?

We can use multiple approaches at the same time, but goats are uniquely capable of controlling not just phragmites, but all kinds of invasive species. In Niagara, we have 56 kilometres of parkland, so there are lots of them. (Poison ivy is a big one, and goats can eat and digest it without getting sick.) I am interested in seeing how things go with the caterpillars. Goats are pretty easy to manage. I don’t know if the same is true of insects.