Monday was a big day for Bel Air town Public Works Director Stephen Kline, who began deployment of a fleet of four-legged weed whackers to aid him in a thorny battle at one of the town's biggest open spaces.
Tired of watching vines, poison ivy, multiflora rose and a variety of other invasive or non-native plants take over portions of Rockfield Park, Kline decided to turn to a small herd of goats to deal with the problem.
The goats, contracted from Veronica "Ronnie" Cassilly, of Harmony Church Farm in Darlington, arrived for their first go at brush on Monday morning.
Cassilly said she brought 17 goats Monday and planned to have 18 on duty Tuesday. They started grazing in a grove of trees behind the stately Rockfield Manor house that Kline said is in danger of being overwhelmed by vines and other invasive ground plants.
The grove was enclosed by a temporary electric fence to keep the goats from wandering. Cassilly said it might take up to three days to finish that area, after which she plans to move them to the woods along the park's main walking trail.
"There's a lot of multiflora in there, which they love; to them it's a real treat," she said.
Cassilly said it takes some time for the goats to acclimate to the heat, and this week's forecasts are for mid-80s daily. She said the goats would seek out shade. That's what they were doing Monday morning, working from the shady interior of the grove and eating outward toward the edge.
In addition to working on an overgrown patch just behind the manor house, Kline planned to used the goats along trails and in the John Adrian Robbins Memorial Grove, established in memory of a late town commissioner by his son, Charles, also a former town commissioner, and Charles' family.
Kline said the goats eat for about three hours, "rest and chew their cuds" for a couple of hours and then eat for another couple of hours in the afternoon, before being rounded up for a trip by truck back to the farm.
"I'm really looking forward to trying this," Kline said. "I didn't want to go in there with herbicides, and if you use machinery, it's tight in places and you risk damaging the trees you are trying to save. I thought this would be a unique way to deal with the problem, one that would be good to the environment and that fits in with our sustainability plan."
"The way it has been explained to me, the goats will weaken the plants we want to get rid of and eventually they won't come back," he said, noting they will probably bring the goats back next spring.
Kline said the goats should be visible to people who are walking through the park, and he said anyone bringing their dogs to the park should keep them on a leash.
Kline said the town is paying $250 a day for up to 19 goats. He said he'll try them for the first week and see how much they can eradicate, before deciding whether to continue. He said $5,000 is budgeted for the project.
"I hope it works," he said. "This is a good park for the people of Bel Air."
Kline said visitors should call ahead to 410-638-4536 if they are planning to stop by the park to watch the goats at work, because "although they are great in many respects, some days they just need a rest."
Rockfield Park, which is on the east side of town off Route 22, encompasses 51 acres, about 25 of which are woodlands. Those areas, Kline said, have been severely impacted by the undergrowth that threatens to choke out the tree canopy and edge vegetation.
The park also has a number of athletic fields and is home to the popular Rockfield Creative Playground. The park hosts a number of events including outdoor concerts and the Bel Air Kite Festival each April.
The manor house, which is available for weddings, meetings and other events, was built in the 1920s and is surrounded by several gardens.
The horticultural gardens are maintained by local schools, including Bel Air, Fallston, C. Milton Wright, Harford Technical and North Harford high schools and Harford Community College and by local organizations such as the Bel Air Lions Club and the Harford County Master Gardeners.
Assisting them are a number of local businesses including ERM, Kollar Nurseries, Buddy Boy Inc., Akehurst Landscaping Services, Ivy Hill Land Services and The Mill of Bel Air.
Bel Air isn't the first Harford municipality to deploy goats to attack unwanted vegetation. The City of Havre de Grace previously used them to eat vegetation on the island by the Municipal Yacht Basin in Tydings Park and also in the vicinity of the wastewater treatment plant.