At the Wyman Park Dell, Goats Clear Invasive Vegetation the Natural Way—By Snacking

It’s surprisingly relaxing to watch a goat munch down a vine of kudzu. And this September, anyone visiting Wyman Park Dell can indulge in this simple pastime during the Baltimore greenspace’s fifth Goats on the Slope weekend.

“We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of people who just want to see goats eating,” says Martha Waldron, board member emeritus at Friends of Wyman Park Dell and chair of its Goats on the Slope program. From September 18-21, approximately eight goats will be in the Dell—behind a protective electric fence—for all to enjoy near Charles Village.

But make no mistake, these goats have a job to do. “We have a very robust maintenance plan for the park,” says Waldron, explaining that the Dell is one of the finest examples of design by the 19th-century landscape architects, the Olmsted Brothers. “An important part of the plan is maintaining the sight line from the Lower Dell up to the Baltimore Museum of Art.”

This is the slope in question, a steep incline impossible to mow with machinery. And Friends of Wyman Park Dell, the volunteer-run nonprofit charged with maintaining the park and presenting activities within it, did not want to use herbicides to control the weeds that overgrow the slope each year.

Goats on the Slope began in 2020 as a way to naturally tackle the persistent problem while creating something fun for parkgoers to enjoy during the hard days of pandemic social distancing.

“Goats can eat one-third of their body weight in a day,” explains Mary Bowen, owner of Browsing Green Goats, which supplies the ruminants. Goats enjoy broad-leafed vegetation like knotweed, brambles, and kudzu, she explains. “They reach up high and pull down anything choking trees and eat it to the ground, but not so low as to create runoff.”

Bowen has about 60 goats and sheep in her mixed herd in Calvert County. She was inspired to start her business 16 years ago, when she saw goats being used to create firebreaks that can help control California wildfires. She realized her goats could be used to clear land near the Chesapeake Bay’s fragile waterways. She carts her eating wonders all over Virginia and Maryland, where her goats can clear anything from a half to 20 acres, all the way nature intended—by snacking.

Goats on the Slope may have started for a practical purpose, but it’s grown into one of Friends of Wyman Park Dell’s most important fundraisers, which is why this year an entire weekend of special events—a bluegrass concert, goat-adjacent yoga, and family-friendly sessions about the science of goat keeping, for example—are planned. There will be QR codes for making donations and T-shirts for sale designed by a local artist with proceeds going to support the Dell.

“We’re all just trying to take care of this little slice of green space we all love,” says Waldron.