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The Albert Lea Audubon Wildlife Nature Preserve is currently using the service "Goats on the Go" to naturally control invasive buckthorn growth. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

Terri and Loren Kaiser are enjoying watching the goats clear away the overgrown brush at the Albert Lea Audubon Wildlife Nature Preserve. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

Goats are excellent at controlling buckthorn and other invasive plants and can be used as an alternative of pesticides. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

A goat stands on its hind legs to reach a tall plant it wants to snack on. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

Goats are excellent at controlling buckthorn and other invasive plants and can be used as an alternative of pesticides. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

By Ayanna Eckblad

The Albert Lea Audubon Wildlife Nature Preserve on Tuesday got a delivery of special visitors — a herd of 29 goats. The animals are part of an ongoing effort to curb the growth of the invasive buckthorn plant through a service called Goats on the Go.

Audubon Society members Loren and Terri Kaiser maintain the wildlife preserve and make sure it is a safe habitat for local animals as well as human visitors. In addition to two miles of walking paths, the preserve has benches and a gazebo where people often stop to have a picnic, a birthday party or just a peaceful afternoon outdoors.

The preserve opened in 1983 and, over the years, has seen a variety of birds, deer, racoons and other wildlife.

“All kinds of animals are coming to this area. It’s very very neat,” Loren said. Some nights, he added, they even hear owls and coyotes.

“Our main goal is to maintain and preserve,” Terri said.

Lately, however, it has become difficult to enjoy the preserve to its fullest potential. This is because of the excessive growth of the invasive buckthorn plant. The weed has become overgrown on the north and west sides of the preserve.

“[Buckthorn] takes over the whole area, so your natural flowers and plants and stuff can’t grow. It just dominates them,” Terri said.

Loren and Terri brought up the issue at a recent Albert Lea Audubon Society meeting. Because buckthorn can render a space unusable, the society’s project committee knew they needed to take action.

One option to get rid of buckthorn is to cut the stalks down with a brush mower and use pesticides to remove remaining parts of the plant. Now, however, there is another option.

Terri had seen Goats on the Go on Facebook. The Audubon Society’s secretary/treasurer, Carol Bertelson, was also familiar with the service as she saw them when the goats cleaned up Minnesota Highway 13.

“We decided to let nature take care of it,” Terri said. “It’s more of a natural solution to the problem.”

Not only do the goats take care of buckthorn, but they also eat other invasive plants.

The Albert Lea Audubon Society decided to rent Goats on the Go. They decided to go with all female goats because male goats have a tendency to become unruly and escape from the spaces they are supposed to be eating in.

Before the goats arrive, an electric fence powered by a solar panel is set up around the patches of buckthorn and the other plants the goats are supposed to get rid of. The goats arrive in a trailer, and then they get to work.

Right now, the goats at the Albert Lea Audubon Wildlife Nature Preserve are in the process of eating the plants on the north side of the property. When they are finished with that section, they will move on to the west side. The goats will stay a total of two to three weeks.

The Albert Lea Audubon Wildlife Nature Preserve is at 424 Oregon St. The Albert Lea Audubon Society is always looking for new members, Terri said. Those interested in learning more can go to albertleaaudubon.org or call Karen Sundal, the society’s president, at 507-433-2701.

People can also learn more about Goats on the Go on the company’s website, goatsonthego.com.

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