Goats swarm Nose Hill Park but in a good way

If Nose Hill Park in Calgary's northwest is your go-to recreation space, be prepared to share that space with some four-legged weed munchers for the next 30 days.

Once again, the City of Calgary is using goats to take care of the weeds.

The program began in 2016, and the city is loving the results, a parks ecologist tells CBC News.

"We have seen fantastic, short-term results," Andrew Phelps said Friday.

"The weed species have been reduced and that plant matter has also been reduced, which allows more native species to re-establish. So it's been very positive that way."

Sheep have been used in other large greenspaces in the city such as Weaselhead Flats, and in smaller projects at McHugh Bluff and Ralph Klein Park.

Phelps says using goats and sheep to manage weeds is part of the city's 10-year biodiversity strategic plan.

"One of the goals is to restore 20 per cent of Calgary's open spaces and increase biodiversity by 2025," he said.

• Why target browsing with goats is growing like the weeds they eat

This year, two trucks with a total of 260 goats set up shop near the 64th Avenue parking lot on the east side of Nose Hill Park on Friday.

"Folks that come to recreate at this side of the hill will see closed-off pathways. That is to accommodate the shepherd and the penning areas for the goats.… We ask the public to keep a respectful distance, but we encourage people to come out and see the goats at work," Phelps said.

And the co-owner of those goats says a pesticide-free approach has become hugely popular in recent years.

"The idea that you are not using herbicides, that you are not having to mow or have fires, that an animal would do it naturally and organically, has really taken off," said Robert Finck of the Creekside Goat Company.