The City of Dallas is bringing back a herd of goats this week to graze and help manage invasive privet plants at White Rock Lake Park, kicking off a targeted vegetation removal project at the prairie area near the Bath House Cultural Center starting Friday.
The initiative will run for about a week as roughly 260 goats rotate through fenced sections of land, eating dense underbrush that officials say chokes out native plants and hurts the local ecosystem, with a professional shepherd on site around the clock to oversee the animals.
Privet is a fast-spreading shrub that can form thick thickets and crowd out native species if left unchecked, which is why Dallas Parks and Recreation and partners are using eco-friendly grazing instead of herbicides or heavy machinery to manage it.
Electric fencing will be repositioned daily to guide the herd across about 11.5 acres, and officials say this natural approach improves vegetation control while reducing noise, soil disruption and carbon emissions compared with traditional methods…