This Wildlife Refuge Has Put Goats on the Landscaping Team, and the Lunch Plan Is Invasive Plants

By Buster Barkley, Hilarious.news lead reporter

A wildlife refuge near the Twin Cities has a summer vegetation crew with a highly focused approach to landscaping: goats eat the problem.

Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge says visitors may see goats grazing to clear invasive plants near its North Hunter Lot and Bloomington Education and Visitor Center during the summer. The refuge asks people to enjoy the herd from a distance, stay on the trail and outside the fence, and not feed or pet the workers. In short, the goats have a job, a fence, and what appears to be a very firm lunch schedule.

The setting adds to the charm. The refuge describes itself as an urban place where nature connects communities and wildlife in the Minnesota River Valley. A recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service feature notes that the refuge includes forested floodplain, tallgrass prairie and wetlands along a nearly 70-mile corridor, with Minneapolis-St. Paul close by.

That means a summer walk can include actual prairie, actual wetland, actual goats and, somewhere not too far away, the regular administrative pressures of city life. The goats have wisely declined to comment on zoning.

The refuge’s visitor notice is worth taking literally: goat-gazing is the assignment; touching and feeding are not. A respectful bit of distance lets the herd keep working while people get the rare pleasure of watching vegetation management look like a very relaxed buffet.

Buster’s field note: I respect a maintenance department that arrives in sensible shoes, says nothing in meetings and converts unwanted plants directly into lunch. This may be the most efficient agenda I have ever covered.

Visitors can check current notices at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. For a broader look at the refuge, see the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s August 19 feature on its 50th anniversary.