The goats are back!

The goats are back to their old stomp­ing grounds.

Goats will be graz­ing on inva­sive vines and knotweed in West Penn Park begin­ning Fri­day, July 29. The graz­ing is expect­ed to last three weeks. Once the area is clear, stu­dent vol­un­teers from Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty and the Uni­ver­si­ty of Pitts­burgh will con­tin­ue to clear wood­i­er veg­e­ta­tion from the site to prep it for tree planting.

Tree Pitts­burgh first brought goats to this site in July of 2014 as part of a pilot project to clear hill­sides for restora­tion. The goats will graze on a new sec­tion of West Penn Park vis­i­ble from Brere­ton Street in Pol­ish Hill.

Pitts­burgh City Coun­cil in March vot­ed unan­i­mous­ly to bring the goats to sec­tions of High­land, Emer­ald View and West Penn Park. Tree Pitts­burgh is con­tract­ing the herd of 11 goats and their pro­tec­tor don­key Hobo from Steel City Graz­ers, through a grant from the Alleghe­ny Coun­ty Con­ser­va­tion District.

The goats will make their way to High­land Park and Emer­ald View lat­er this summer.