The Pacolet Area Conservancy (PAC) recently received a grant from the Polk County Community Foundations Unrestricted Fund – Kudzu Eradication Initiative, for Kudzu eradication on the 2-acre Town of Tryon lot near IGA. The grant will fund the use of goats on the site, twice a year, for three years.

The public may have noticed that a fence has been erected around the perimeter of the site.  This fence was put in place by Wells Farm, the company that PAC has engaged to bring goats back to the site to help with the eradication of Kudzu at the site.  The goats are scheduled to arrive sometime near the beginning of June.

In preparation for the arrival of the goats, PAC volunteers have begun preliminary work at the site, cutting Kudzu vines, large Chinese Privet shrubs, and other non-native and invasive plants that have taken over the site.

“Although the goats will eat these non-native and invasive plants, many of them have gotten so tall that the goats will only be able to reach part way up the plants, and the tops of the plants will continue to photosynthesize, feeding the roots, and allowing the plants to persist.  We hope that, by cutting the non-native and invasive vines and shrubs, the goats will eat the new growth that will sprout from the stumps, ultimately starving the plant,” said Torlina.