If I’ve heard it once I’ve heard it a thousand times: the library lawn is a mess, and it’s all the fault of the herons. Never mind the hard work of the Garden Club volunteers whose efforts have brought colour and vitality to the library grounds by the planting of flowers, tourists don’t like messy lawns and that’s the first thing that they see when they walk off the ferry - at least until the end of June when nesting season wraps-up.
Sue Ellen Fast (of Bowen Heron Watch) presented another perspective to council a few months back: tourists love herons!
Of course, neither perspective takes into account the truth of the matter, which is that some tourists will love herons while others will hate shaggy lawns. I believe, however, that if we are just a little bit creative we can come up with a solution to satisfy all parties, decrease fossil fuel consumption, and keep the library lawn kempt at the same time: goats.
Or maybe just one goat, we’d probably have to conduct a research study before actually getting going on this but… there are plenty of goats-on island who I have no doubt would happily munch away on the grass at the library once or twice a week. To ensure that the goat doesn’t destroy the Garden Club flowers or eat one of those lovely cherry trees, the municipality could hire a charming and livestock savvy high school student to keep it in line. The high school student, or who ever it was that took on the job, would have to be charming because they would be acting not only as a goat keeper but also as a guide to the many, many people walking off the ferry to check out this scene.
Would people come all the way to Bowen just for the goats? Well that might be a stretch, but those who did come here would certainly have something to talk about when they got home, even if they didn’t explore beyond Cardena Road.
Thanks to goats (on the roof, no less) the Old Country Market in Coombs, B.C., is known to just about everyone who’s ever driven to Tofino.
The Google Campus has employed goats to clear brush, and at a park called Angel’s Knoll in Los Angeles they were used for several years running instead of lawn mowers. The idea is not that far out there.
It would be too much to ask of our local goats to end conflict about herons, but on the library lawn they just might do the trick.
