Experts fought a losing battle against an invasive reed
choking marshlands on the East coast. Now it’s up to the goats.
Image credit: Mediasans
Transcript of the Audio Podcast:
A European invasive grass gets its goat… on this CurrentCast.
Phragmites Australis is a tall, invasive reed that is overrunning many Northeast marshlands. Experts battle it by land and air to no avail… so who you gonna call? Goat-busters! That’s right: real nanny goats and rams.
In the Netherlands, goats keep pastures free of phragmites, says Brian Silliman, a Duke University Professor of Biology. So he says this low-tech trick might work on Yankee marsh as well.
Silliman: “It’s not like we’re going to get a complete return to what you had before… but the big difference is that the invasive species is going to be held in check.”
Goats are already helping manage phragmites in several New York wetlands.
Brian Silliman
Support for CurrentCast comes from the Mitsubishi Corporation Foundation for the Americas. Learn more online at http://www.currentcast.org.
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