Goats?! Come Catch a Glimpse Before the Month’s End!

You may or may not have heard the alarms, but the Rye Nature Center is now the current work site for 28 hungry goats!

The Goats Go Marching In!

The historic Rye home that once belonged to the Parsons and is now commonly referred to as “The Ruins” will have new residents for the first time in almost 100 years. Over the course of the next five days, these goats will work tirelessly to munch and crunch as much invasive plant material as possible. The goal being, to restore beauty and visibility to one of the Rye Nature Center’s most unique unnatural features.

Goat Lunch! Anticipation is high for the arrival of our new conservation team members!

The Parsons estate was vacated in 1942 due to a fire that turned the house into nothing more than the brick and stone foundation it was built from. While this may not be a happy ending for the historic household, it is an integral part of the Nature Center’s storied past. One could even say, it was the first domino to fall in a sequence of events that allowed our park to exist and thrive as a communal green space for all our friends to enjoy. Old and new come together as the exciting and long desired conservation effort of introducing goats to fight invasive plants is finally executed in a place so tied up in the history of our Nature Center. Especially if you consider the fact that there was likely not livestock of this kind on our site since the Parsons were the ones running it!

What a view!

Watching how overjoyed everyone was when the goats were released and went right to work serves as a reminder that some of things in life that illicit the most special feelings are as simple as a goat climbing on some rocks or chomping on some leaves. So, if you were not planning to already, be sure to carve out some time to come catch of glimpse of these wonderful goats!