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Goats and GPS tech used to fight buckthorn in school forest; tick testing underway
Summary
The district described a collaborative goat-based buckthorn management project in the school forest (six trained goats contained with GPS technology) and participation in a Polk County tick study with samples collected for Lyme testing.
A presenter from Lane Elementary (speaker 3) gave details on two connected environmental-education efforts: a tick-survey partnership with Polk County (more than 100 ticks collected during sampling) and a goat-based buckthorn removal project in the district school forest. The goat project uses six goats from the Nisher family that trained for approximately three weeks; GPS-based containment was purchased through a Polk County Electric grant and student leaders will help monitor the animals.
"A project that has been in development for several years... 6 goats owned by the Nisher family... have completed approximately 3 weeks of training... and are now helping address the significant buckthorn growth," the presenter said. Educational signage will be added and the farm program will house the animals in an agricultural trailer for daily care; the project has drawn interest from other schools for observational visits.
