WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI (WSAU) — Wisconsin Rapids Mayor Shane Blaser says his parks and rec staff received an unwelcome surprise as they were working on the grass for the city’s new dog park.
Buckthorn.
The Mayor says once they cleared out the trees, brush, and overgrowth in the area and started planting and watering grass, the noxious weed shot out and spread like wildfire. “We got the grass planted, it was growing nice, but then the buckthorn came up,” said Blaser. “What a pleasant surprise. We had a bumper crop of buckthorn.”
While many communities turn to goats as a natural herbicide, Blaser says for now they are taking the conventional approach of spraying and mowing to get the unwanted plant under control. He says right now the buckthorn is covering a big area and would require “quite a few goats” if that’s the route they would take. There was also concern about goats ripping up the newly planted grass in the park.
Given the size of the outbreak, he also expects that controlling the weed will be a multi-year battle. “Every year we may need to close the park for a week or two [so we can] spot treat. That way we can stay on top of it so it doesn’t get away from us.
“It’ll get away really quickly. Once it got some sunlight and water on it, it just took off in full force,” added Blaser.
The new dog park in Wisconsin Rapids is not open to the public. The city has been working to prepare the site for several months with an eye toward opening it to the public later this summer. It’s unclear if they will still hit that target.
Other topics Blaser discussed with WSAU’s Mike Leischner include:
Start of video- Reaction to USGA Men’s Senior Open
5:05- Reaction to the proposed elimination of city committee meetings
9:45- Shared revenue plan
14:00- Will the city enlist goats to clean up the dog park?
