Have you ‘herd?’ Goats on the job in Canonsburg
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The Goatscape Allegheny herd takes in the sights and smells of Canonsburg Wednesday afternoon, while executive director Gavin Deming looks on. The 12 goats will eat vegetation along Chartiers Creek, an eco-friendly and cost-effective way for the borough to improve the creek.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The Goatscape Allegheny herd excitedly emerges from its trailer into the new home office in Canonsburg, where two herds are working to clear vegetation as part of the borough’s beautification efforts along Chartiers Creek. The borough is seeking volunteers to help with light goat maintenance.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Goats enjoy a sweet treat – grapes! – while getting acclimated to their new home office along Four Coins Drive in Canonsburg Wednesday. Canonsburg Borough is one of the few locales outside Allegheny County with whom Goatscape Allegheny currently works.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Gavin Deming, executive director of Goatscape Allegheny, opens the trailer and lets the herd loose. Twelve goats will clear vegetation along Chartiers Creek on Four Coins Drive, while a second herd is at work near Sarris Candies.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Randy the goat leads his herd onto the job Wednesday, when Goatscape Allegheny delivered 12 goats to Four Coins Drive in Canonsburg. The goats will work along Chartiers Creek for about 40 days, clearing vegetation – for them, breakfast, lunch and dinner – along the rocky terrain.
Twelve enthusiastic, four-legged landscapers had their first day on the job Wednesday, when Goatscape Allegheny crews installed fencing, cleared the area of poisonous hemlock and set a herd goats out to pasture along Four Coins Drive in Canonsburg.
The goatscaping services are part of Canonsburg Borough’s Chartiers Creek cleanup efforts, to improve its score with Army Corp of Engineers and meet Department of Environmental Protection regulations.
“From a cost perspective, it’s cost-effective to do it this way,” said borough council President Eric Chandler. “This is eco-friendly, and it’s innovative.”
Goatscape Allegheny provides services to Allegheny County, and Canonsburg is the first borough south of the city to work with the goat landscaping company, said executive director Gavin Deming.
“Every once in a while, we’ll go outside of the city,” he said, adding his five herds have beautified the Flight 93 National Memorial and Johnstown Flood National Memorial grounds. “Canonsburg approached us. They wanted to clear up the hillside … in an environmentally satisfactory way.”
Two Goatscape herds will work for about 40 days in two sections of Canonsburg, one across the street from Sarris Candies and the other along Four Coins Drive.
Canonsburg council is seeking volunteers to help ensure the goats have enough water, are accounted for and that their solar-powered fence is working. Volunteers may call the borough building at 724-745-1800 for more information.