Weed control — naturally: A Park City resort using herd instead of herbicides

PARK CITY — A Park City resort has turned chemicals aside in favor of weed eaters that only need water — goats. The rest of the fuel for these 75 eaters of the noxious weeds takes care of itself.

Park City Mountain Resort has started using goats instead of herbicides or manpower to control the invasion of noxious weeds on its land that are becoming increasingly problematic for the resort and the county.

Colin Wilkinson, the resort's noxious-weed manager, said the idea came up last winter to use the animals instead of other methods, and the resort is now relying on a herd of goats from a Coalville family business, Willoughby Boer Goats.

Not only are the weeds an eyesore, Wilkinson said, they can ruin the natural wildlife habitat of the areas they infest, and their shallow root systems cause erosion. They can also affect the value of land.

"Most of our weeds in our county were caused from development," he said. Heavy machinery and vehicles can bring in the weeds from other areas.

"If a truck picks up seeds, it can deposit (them) in a new area that would naturally take 30 years for that species or any individual plant to migrate that far," Wilkinson said. Homeowners can contribute by planting them in their yards and letting them get out of control, he added.

Wilkinson's job is to stop the weeds from spreading, and that's where Willoughby Boer Goats comes in.

The goats, contracted for the rest of the summer, are contained by a portable electric fence and moved to different areas of the resort's land where they graze, mostly on the lower mountain. Boyd Willoughby and his sons work part time tending the goats.

Goats eat the leaves and flowers of the weeds, removing the plants' ability to photosynthesize and reproduce. While killing weeds, they do not destroy the other plant life around them, as an herbicide might do, and actually fertilize the ground as they go.

The process takes three years to complete, Willoughby said. He sees the goats every other day, and much of the work consists of moving the fence to different areas on the resort's land.

And the goats are "low maintenance" — all the resort has to provide is the water.

"It's kind of relaxing and enjoyable," Wilkinson said about working with the goats, though he said his relationship with them is more hands-off. Wilkinson plans where the goats will graze. Willoughby and his sons do the actual goat-tending.

Twenty goats can graze about one acre per day, Wilkinson said.

Not only are the goats cost-effective, Brent Giles, director of environmental affairs for the resort, said recruiting them was "one of the better choices" environmentally.

"The goats are one way of walking the talk. It just fits into our whole master plan of being more environmentally friendly and doing what we say we're going to do."

The county has taken an interest in the project and is monitoring its success. Some of the resort land has been set aside for study by an expert from Utah State University's Summit County Extension office.

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E-mail: bcaballero@desnews.com