Latest / Inside the OSD / S1 E18 - Goats in the OSD Ft. OMS Educators and Students

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S1 E18 - Goats in the OSD Ft. OMS Educators and Students · Inside the OSD

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  SPEAKER1: The Oregon School District has a proud history of using environmentally sustainable practices whenever possible and helping our students understand the
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  importance of being environmentally responsible citizens.
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  Today, we are going to learn about our latest effort in this area using goats to clear invasive species in the Oregon Middle School forest.
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  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
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  Here is your host.
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  Lifelong educator, and our superintendent, Dr.
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  Leslie Bergstrom.
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  SPEAKER1: I would like to start today with two of our OMS educators who have helped to make this project a reality.
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  So could you start by introducing yourselves to our listeners and your role at OMS?
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  SPEAKER3: I'm Andrea Fuller.
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  I am one of the instructional coaches here at OMS.
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  SPEAKER4: And I'm Nathan Mahr.
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  I am an eighth grade science teacher here at OMS.
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  Thank you.
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  SPEAKER1: Can you talk about the purpose of this project and what are the goats doing in the forest?
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  SPEAKER3: The purpose is long term to have an outdoor classroom.
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  In order for that to happen and have a functioning school forest, we needed to clear out the invasives.
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  And after I took an outdoor education class, I came across an opportunity and new methods in forest restoration that involved goats to clean
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  invasives.
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  SPEAKER1: Well, you kind of answered my next question, too, which is how did you get the idea for this project?
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  And then I've heard we've done it or it's been done in parks and even an area school.
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  SPEAKER3: Yeah. So when I was doing research and learning about outdoor education and what that can look like for all content areas and goats to remove invasives came up
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  and then I started noticing like all over more and more places, using it as a technique and obviously more businesses offering this as
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  an opportunity and, you know, companies that started it.
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  So I just felt like make the most amount of sense.
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  SPEAKER1: So I am looking at a lot of goats and a really big fence.
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  So there's a lot of coordination to make this happen.
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  What was involved in getting this up and running?
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  SPEAKER4: Yeah, there was a lot of coordination.
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  Well, starting with just having the idea.
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  So Andrea said, "hey, we could, you know, we could try this" and seeing them in Madison Parks.
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  You know, it seemed pretty cool.
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  It's like they very effective.
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  As we're looking out into the Pendant area, it's -- it's pretty much cleared out.
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  But yeah, coordinating it, you know, Andrea wrote a grant, some grant funding to get the goats in here and then coordinating with Andy Weiland and and then --
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  and then you, Leslie, to get things, you know, pulled together.
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  And we have other -- we have other staff members that are, you know, working with us on this project and have worked on it for a number of years.
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  But yeah, just pulling all those things together, having those meetings and yeah.
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  SPEAKER1: Well, environmental sustainability has been something that's been important to Oregon Middle School, in particular, for a very, very long time.
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  And I know that this is a lot in addition to the fact that you are teaching and coaching all day long.
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  So why was this important to you?
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  SPEAKER3: Well, it's an amazing learning opportunity for students.
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  It allows for all content areas to access the outside and to be part of that learning.
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  Specifically, like, you know, I'm partnering with English teachers to do a creative writing project and using the goats as like characters and stories and
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  also invasives as villains in a flipped fairy tale, which kudos to the eighth grade English team.
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  And just like our teacher has been out here having students paint and use the woods and it's once you draw, like once we have a central point, then people are
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  more likely to use it. And I feel that it really is best for students to be outside engaged in nature.
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  And not everyone has those opportunities and it's something that we can offer for everyone.
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  SPEAKER4: Yeah, it kind of has that that build it and they will come.
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  It's the -- that, that fine balance between "we have this resource, but it's just -- it's just not ready to be used to its fullest until we can get it
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  cleared out." And yeah it has been -- it has drawn a lot of attention.
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  The goats. From the neighborhood and the students are up here and there's, you know, they're going to be here for a couple more weeks.
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  So yeah, we'll be -- it'll be fun to see them, you know, work their way through the forest and put in a whole bunch of plants next week.
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  And our, our green team members are going to come and kind of do -- be the sweepers on that project to plant whatever doesn't get planted next week.
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  So we'll be right up, right up in it.
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  SPEAKER1: So this is my first time watching the goats and I don't know what it looked like before they got started on the area that is within this pen.
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  How have they been doing so far?
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  Cleaning the invasives?
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  SPEAKER3: Ironically, today we were said "we need to take a before picture" because when they arrived on Sunday and they were in that area Monday morning when we got
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  here, I was like, "Whoa, that is totally different.
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  That has changed." And even this area, like all of it, it's -- it's shocking to see.
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  And so we're going to do a before and after picture because they have been really clearing it out.
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  SPEAKER4: Because I can see from my my classroom windows, it really is shocking just where -- you can tell exactly where the fence ends because you can -- you can
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  see up under it looks kind of dark from the from the school building where it's been cleared out.
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  It's dark because the light's going in and it's not coming back out, whereas on the edge it's all green.
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  So you've like this green wall of honeysuckle.
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  And then once the goats get through there, they just take that out.
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  They love that, that honeysuckle.
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  It's fun to watch them climb up and, you know, pull it down and just kind of take it out.
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  SPEAKER1: So when the goats are done, which you said will be about three weeks in total, that they'll be here right?
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  When they're done, we'll have a crew of interested students go in and get rid of any invasive species that weren't already cleared out.
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  SPEAKER4: Is that right? It'll be interesting to see.
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  What -- What -- What's left?
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  Yeah. Just making just a quick overview right here.
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  I can see they don't like Dame's Rocket as much.
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  For example, a lot of it gets trampled down.
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  So we can come in, we can hand pull a lot of that.
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  You know, we have a lot of -- a lot of student hands and just walk through there.
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  We know that pulling that stuff out has been useful because it gets the seed bank out of here.
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  So like you can never get rid of all the invasives, but you can manage them and the goats is definitely I mean, it just feels like we're getting over the
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  top of that and we will come back in and the restoration company is going to take out some of the larger and -- what's left that they didn't they didn't they
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  didn't get. And then, you know, part of the management moving forward is, you know, probably fire or perhaps, you know, goats within, you know, several
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  years for that smaller brushy stuff that they love and that fire does take out.
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  SPEAKER1: So we could be bringing the goats back every few years to help us out with this?
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  SPEAKER4: It's possible for sure.
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  You know. For sure fire every five years, really.
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  It just burns out those little -- the little seedlings of honeysuckle and buckthorn.
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  And we used to have a lot of garlic mustard in here, but it's probably 5 or 6 years ago, we had fourth graders coming over and we just walked through and we
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  pulled -- we pulled garlic mustard.
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  And now there's just I mean, it's still in there.
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  It's always going to be in there, but it's not unmanageable where it's shading out, you know, the native plants, which has been exciting to see those, you
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  know, come back every time through the woods.
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  SPEAKER1: So how have students reacted to this so far?
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  SPEAKER3: They're very excited.
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  Yeah, they talk a lot about it.
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  They're asking frequently to get outside to see the goats.
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  SPEAKER1: It's a "build it, they will come" situation.
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  SPEAKER3: We want to know how long they're coming and what they're doing.
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  And the same questions like "how does it look different" and "who owns them?" and "what are they going to do here?" And all the same questions that everyone
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  is asking, right? The students are asking.
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  It is it's really neat and they are excited to be part of it.
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  SPEAKER1: That's wonderful to hear.
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  And, you know, I'd have to say the goats are pretty darn cute.
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  So I can see why there's going to be a lot of people wanting to just come watch them get their stuff done.
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  So how can people learn more about this project?
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  SPEAKER3: We have a website Oregonsd.org/goats.
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  Thank you. With information and questions and more details about the project.
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  And also Tuesday, May 23rd from 4:30 to 6 p.m., Jeremy Lapointe and Living Land Management LLC will be here
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  to answer questions from community students, parents, what have you, and we'll meet at the greenhouse at the OMS parking lot and then walk up to the forest and
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  have more of a tour and in-depth conversation.
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  SPEAKER1: That's wonderful. Thanks for sharing all of this.
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  And now we're going to talk to a few students.
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  Thanks for joining us today.
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  Let's start by having each of you introduce yourself to our listeners.
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  SPEAKER5: I'm Leon Locken and I'm Sage Jensen.
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  SPEAKER1: Thank you. And both of you are part of the OMS Green team.
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  So tell us, what does this team do?
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  SPEAKER5: Um, well, I'm pretty sure we're working on restoring the forest.
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  On the OMS forest.
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  I know. We've also talked about planting.
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  SPEAKER6: Yeah, we enjoy helping nature and just making it a nicer place.
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  We like helping restoring the forests, which is the local forest right outside of our school.
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  Right.
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  SPEAKER1: And why is it important to each of you to be a part of this team?
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  SPEAKER5: Um, I think it's important that we're restoring a forest because there's been a lot of problems with, like, forest related stuff recently, and I think
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  restoring, of course, is probably one of the best things we could do.
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  SPEAKER6: Helping out the community, just making it nicer, feels so good and helping like making this ecosystem a lot nicer will make everybody who lives
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  around it and like our community a lot better and a lot nicer.
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  SPEAKER1: So what has it been like having goats so close to your school?
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  Um.
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  SPEAKER5: It hasn't affect me much, but I've seen people, um, stand really close to the fence just looking at them.
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  Yeah. Um, me and my friend saw a person and a dog, and the dog was just looking straight at the goats.
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  And when the person started to walk, the dog was just sitting there still.
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  SPEAKER1: So the dog was fascinated.
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  Gotcha.
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  SPEAKER6: How about you? I say it's surprising because I've never had goats right by my school and this would probably be my last time.
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  This might be. Yeah, but it's something that, like, you probably won't see.
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  Like ever again.
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  Like I'm pretty sure I'm not going to see a group of 20 to 30 goats just outside in our school forest eating all the
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  invasive species. It's really interesting.
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  SPEAKER1: So how have other students reacted to this?
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  What have you noticed?
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  SPEAKER6: They have.
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  Some students were kind of confused in my homeroom class because they thought it was kind of weird that we were getting goats in the woods.
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  SPEAKER1: So what do you think of the next steps for the Green team with respect to this project?
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  Cleaning or clearing out the woods in such a sustainable way?
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  What's next?
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  SPEAKER5: Um, from what I've heard, our next step is to take out any of the other species that invasive species that the goats didn't get.
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  So like any, like, I don't know, honeysuckle if there's in there, if they didn't get that, there's going to be a team that goes through and gets it.
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  Um, and I'm sure we're planning on adding more to the forest.
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  Um.
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  SPEAKER1: Yeah. Continue to make it a great place, right?
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  Yeah, a great place for all of you to study and learn.
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  And it's right next to the school, which couldn't be better.
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  Anything else to add?
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  SPEAKER6: Yeah. Respect your forest.
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  Or else.
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  Respect nature.
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  SPEAKER1: Respect nature or else.
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  Okay. Thanks for that.
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  Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at
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  Oregonsd.org/Podcast. You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
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  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.