Courier View Pikes Peak
Pikes Peak 8.7.13
Teller County, Colorado • Volume 52, Issue 32
August 7, 2013
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourtellercountynews.com
Goats to the
rescue
By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com
I
nstead of killing weeds and polluting the air with pesticides, Darlene Kobobel, founder of the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center in Divide, called in the goats. In a fire-mitigation project that bypasses human labor for weed-smacking goats, Kobobel goes back to the future with a project that was once considered old news, goats in a field. “The goats take away the noxious and tall weeds,” Kobobel said. Unlike human mitigators, goats are nimble, undaunted by clumps of brush and trees. “Goats can get through every nook-and-cranny,” she said. “We’re into keeping everything as close to natural as we can, not using sprays and pesticides that get into the groundwater from the creek.” In a tiptoe-into-the-experience, 50 cashmere goats from Silver Fleece Farm in Hartsel had to be convinced that eating weeds as a do-good operation was going to be fun, worth their time. The first emerged slowly from the truck, then another, followed by the other 48, all sparking the herding instinct in Casey, the center’s rescue border-collie. In a parade to the field of weeds, with Casey keeping the goats in line, the party began. “They eat shrub oak, prefer it over grass; they’ll eat the leaves off the aspen as well as some of the branches,” said Dean Wierth, who owns the farm. “They’ll eat a half-inch a day.” The goats are multi-taskers that double as weed-killers and fertilizers. At the end of the first week in August, the goats will have chewed their way through five acres of the 70-acre center. “We’re trying to use these goats as a business,” said Wierth, who can be reached at 719-837-2836.
These cashmere goats from the Silver Fleece Farm in Hartsel are available for hire to eat noxious weeds and scrub brush.
For this cashmere goat, paradise is all about eating weeds. Little does this goat know that he is part of a fire-mitigation project to halt catastrophic fire in its tracks at the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center.
You want me to do what? Said the first goat of 50 to take a peek from the Silver Fleece Farm truck. The goats were charged with chewing through six acres of weeds at the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center. Photos by Pat Hill
Udall comes to Florissant By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com The Post to Parks program at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument drew the attention of Colorado Senator Mark Udall July 27. Udall, chairman of the U.S. Senate National Parks Subcommittee, spoke to the kids about conservation as well as his work with students in Outward Bound, a program that connects youth to the outdoors. “Our military has given a lot,” Udall said. “What is sometimes forgotten is what we
ask of their families. I am proud to live in a state that provides programs like Post to Parks that not only connects Coloradans with our stunning public lands but also promotes healthier lifestyles.” The Monument has the distinction of being the first national park to create the Post to Parks program, which was inspired by rangers Troy Fuhrman and Jeff Wolin. The program gives military members and their families the opportunity to become stewards of the national parks and other public lands Sen. Udall encourages youth to get outdoors with his Kids to Parks initiative.
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Colorado Senator Mark Udall spoke to military youth July 27 at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. The youth are part of the Monument’s Post to Parks program. Courtesy photo