“When Whatcom Land Trust stewards needed help with a blackberry infestation on Kelsey Preserve, they didn’t turn to herbicides or hire people to chop them out… ‘Blackberries are a non-native species and we’re trying to manage the land in its natural condition,’ says a rep for the land trust. ”
Instead, they brought in 240 goats, who took five days to clear the three-acre infestation. Goats don’t mind thorns, and they clear the land enough so people can follow to dig out the blackberry roots.
a few blackberry bushes improve any place.
They weren’t dealing with just a few– they had acres of them. And if you’ve seen an overgrown blackberry patch, you know that they supplant almost any other kind of growth. Considering the organizations’ intention to maintain the property in its natural state, I would think that an invasive species of any kind– especially one so productive– would be a legitimate problem.
That said, I sure wish we could get blackberries to grow on our property!