YouthWork teams up with City Girls Farm to tackle invasive species at Sleeping Bear

Grace George, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·5 min read

Jun. 26—PORT ONEIDA — The goats grazing at Dechow Farm in Port Oneida have become a welcome distraction for YouthWork Director Bill Watson.

"I can't stop myself from going out there," he said.

But for his crews of AmeriCorps volunteers, the goats are part of their new workday routine.

"They all want to stay with the goats," Watson said of the YouthWork volunteers. "They're all bummed when they get switched back to the other projects that we have."

Amy McIntyre, owner of City Girls Farm, has moved her pack of 19 goats from her farm in Pontiac to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to work with YouthWork volunteers and take on invasive species in the area, such as the autumn olive. The goats will graze in that area until September.

The Dechow Farm is a historical site from the mid-1800s that sits on the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park land. It does not currently have any active agriculture, but invasive species — primarily the autumn olive plant — have threatened the native species in the area with increasing intensity over the past few years, said Kim Mann, Historical Architect at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Shoreline.

Goats are great for conservation grazing because they have two sets of grinding teeth and a four chambered stomach and they spit up cud and rechew, so there are no seeds left in their manure and the plants do not have a chance to regrow.

"When we remove the invasives it gives the natives a fighting opportunity to reestablish their foothold," McIntyre said.

Other invasive species, like Baby's Breath and Knapseed, have been identified as the goats have grazed on.

Previously, the National Parks Service would thin out invasive species in that area by going through the land and cutting them down, which is labor intensive, or using herbicides, which is harmful to the natural environment.

In 2019, McIntyre's goats demonstrated the conservation grazing work they can do at the Port Oneida Fair. McIntyre had previously taken her goats to complete other projects downstate and one at the Leelanau Conservancy.

McIntyre put her goats' work on pause during the height of the pandemic and restarted with this project in Port Oneida, which will give the National Park Service insight into how this can work as a consistent practice and collaboration between the National Park Service, City Girls Farm and YouthWork.

"It gives us, the park, the opportunity to see how it works and do we like how this goes and kind of plan for a bigger project next year that would also incorporate the growth into our cultural landscape maintenance and management," Mann said.

The progress that they've made so far is obvious, McIntyre said.

"I look to my left and I see this waving field of grass, and then I look to where the goats are and there's broken stalks and it's chewed down and we cut down the autumn olive," McIntyre said. "So there's truly a before and after visual."

YouthWork volunteers clear the areas for the goats to start grazing in and section off boundaries for them to head into and begin chewing up the overgrown invasive species.

By doing this, YouthWork volunteers learn livestock management as well as problem solving, as the work continues to evolve each day. McIntyre said she encourages the YouthWork volunteers to make suggestions and help her problem-solve as the days go on.

YouthWork is a Child and Family Services program that hires young people through AmeriCorps and equips them with skills for future careers in construction and conservation. Young people serving with YouthWork restore and build trails, plant trees and maintain public spaces across northern Michigan, all the while learning how to work in those fields.

Working with McIntyre's goats is one of several projects YouthWork has this summer with funding from the National Parks Foundation. Their 24 teams, made up of 80 youth from across the state, are working in places like the Keweenaw Peninsula, Pictured Rocks, River Raisin and South Manitou Island.

Watson said the project with McIntyre's goats in Port Oneida fits along the organization's ecological and social goals. For one, the grazing goats offer a way to handle lands in a more environmentally friendly way and avoid the use of chemicals on the land.

The work has also helped boost morale for the youth who work with YouthWork, many of whom come from backgrounds of trauma.

"They just glow every day. No one's walking around frowning. Right now everybody's grinning from ear to ear because (the goats are) so funny and they're so sweet," Watson said.

Goats are playful and intuitive animals, McIntyre said. They know how to comfort someone who needs it.

They are also helpful for the young people to take a moment to decompress, McIntyre said. This is especially good for younger populations, who have been deeply impacted by the pandemic. It helps them slow down.

"When you're working with livestock, you kind of have to go with their pace," McIntyre said.

The public is welcome to meet the goats from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on July 9 and July 23.

Watson and McIntyre also have plans for future collaborative work between YouthWork and City Girls Farm, under the name GoatWork. YouthWork volunteers will continue to work with McIntyre's Goats on other projects for other parks and organizations with a need for conservation grazing, Watson said.