The goats are back to graze at nature center

The goats are back to grazing at Thousand Islands Environmental Center in Kaukauna. After a successful visit last fall, the team has returned to eat some more.

There's not rest for the 13 goats at Thousand Islands Environmental Center.

"They've been doing their job a lot this morning, walking around and eating all of the plants," says Katie Wittmann, a volunteer helping to watch the goats.

The eight females and five babies, on loan from Mulberry Lane Farm, are there to eat once again.

According to Stephanie Feuerstein, assistant naturalist, "They'll eat everything. Those 13 goats will eat all of this and they may even get to the point where we start to wonder if we have enough for them to eat. They're really voracious eaters."

Working in the same acre of land, that the goats grazed in back in the fall, the team will spend the next ten days eating away at the invasive species.

"This is what our goal was to try and see, can we get them to come in here and eat the invasive species - the bad stuff - so that it opens up an opportunity for the native, the good stuff to come," adds Feuerstein.

The area grazed by the goats last year is much cleaner than spaces untouched by the goats. Native plants are already popping up, a step in the right direction for what will be a multi-year process.

Feuerstein adds, "It will probably have to keep going, over several years actually, to get it to the point we really want to see it."

But so far its been a success. And only are the goats changing the landscape, but they're drawing visitors, who are learning the importance of the project.

"They're eating all of the invasive species," says six year old Sam Brockman. He adds, "That's good because the invasive species take over, the whole entire forest."

The goats will stay and work until late next week and the hope is to bring them back again in the fall.