Goats Return to Barker Stewart Island in Wausau

Monday, July 10th, 2023 -- 8:00 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) It's year three of worker goats on Barker Stewart Island in Wausau.

According to Mike Leischner with WSAU, Mayor Katie Rosenberg says as of last week the animals have returned and are chewing down on invasive Buckthorn and Honeysuckle plants.

"What we're doing now is we're cutting the island in half, so it's more condensed for them. So, they'll work on this half for the first week and half of their time and then we'll open up the other side."

She says the city was expecting them later this month, but it appears they were very hungry at their last job. "They must have finished their job early because they're so good at it and they're so thorough. I see they've got some new workers with them this year too."

She says the goats have proven to be safe and effective in removing the invasive species, but they won't be eating themselves out of a job anytime soon. "There's an amount of repitition we need to do on Barker Stewart especially to forever be done with these invasive species. And there's probably some maintenace we'll have to do after we get the majority of it gone."

She says once they have the island under control they may consider using the goats in other parks. "Especially those places with kinda of interesting terrain. I think there's some opportunity there."

Rosenberg says the best time to see them in action is mornings and evenings.

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