Goat day is coming!

By Logan Lauvray

The City of Wilsonville’s annual Goat Appreciation Day is this Sunday, September 18, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm at Memorial Park. Attendees will have an opportunity to see several hundred goats in action eating invasive plants and to sample goat products including cheese, milk, and yogurt.

The goats will be at Memorial Park for nearly a week eating English ivy; however, goats are not too picky and will also munch Himalayan blackberry and other undesirable weeds.

Friends of Trees has partnered with the City of Wilsonville for nearly a decade to plant thousands of native trees and shrubs at Memorial Park. The goats will help prepare a site where our volunteers will be planting on January 28, 2012. Using the goats to remove the invasive species helps reduce or eliminate herbicide use and saves many people hours of pulling or cutting the noxious weeds. They are also super cute!

Goat Appreciation Day is a family-friendly event that gives us a great opportunity to see these hooved critters in action and to check out the ‘before’ view of one of our future planting areas.

–Lauvray manages Friends of Trees’ Green Space Initiative.