NIC uses goats as green solution

NIC will be hosting a herd of goats for the next week in the area around campus.

Twenty-five goats are being used along the NIC beach and Spokane River to get rid of weeds and noxious vegetation.

The Coeur d’Alene Street Department contacted Green Goat Rentals to use their goats to dispose of unwanted weeds along the NIC beach.

“It’s a great way to remove the weeds without using chemicals,” said Terry Leigh, Field Supervisor at the Coeur d’Alene Street Department.

Suzanne Forte, owner of Green Goat Rentals, said the area along the Centennial Trail by NIC is rocky and hard to keep maintained.

Leigh said the main purpose is to help keep the area maintained as well as making it look better

When goats eat the weeds, the seeds are naturally sterilized and unable to spread after the digestion process.

“Goats have four stomachs like cows and can consume 25 percent of their body weight each day, so the more goats used the faster it is,” Forte said.

The city has used goats in the past to get rid of noxious vegetation and likes to use this method, as it is an eco-friendly way to dispose of the unwanted weeds.

The goats are currently placed in the southern part of the Centennial Trail next to the water treatment plant and will remain there until the end of the week.