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I work for Mount Angel Abbey. The Abbey owns a good deal of forest land that was overrun with Himalayan Blackberry, thistles, Scotch Broom, etc. A couple of years ago they brought in a herd of sheep and goats. Goats especially will eat anything that doesn't eat them first and all the way down to the roots. And they consider blackberry a real delicacy. So the goats dealt with the problem. The understory of our woods are now quite open, with saplings coming up in a lot of areas (protected by little cages to keep the animals from eating _them_) and ferns and grasses and such and all those nasty invasive species cut way back. I was just looking up the hill as I was driving in and noted that the former blackberry thickets are pretty much either gone or dead with only a few new shoots this spring, and the goats eyeing them hungrily.

posted 5 years, 1 month ago
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