Keep Knoxville Beautiful press release...

Breakfast With the Goats and Keep Knoxville Beautiful

Keep Knoxville Beautiful will be giving the public a special preview of goats being used to eradicate kudzu with a free light breakfast and discussion session from 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 19th 2010 at the Knoxville Botanical Gardens.

"The goats will be doing what they do best, clearing land behind the terrace of the Botanical Gardens Tuesday, May 18th through the afternoon of the next day," said Allison Teeters, executive director of Keep Knoxville Beautiful. "We encourage everyone interested in the program to attend the breakfast to learn more about the project from the staff at Keep Knoxville Beautiful, the City of Knoxville, and Natural Land Clearing Inc.," said Teeters.

The breakfast is the first glance at a pilot project that Keep Knoxville Beautiful, in collaboration with the city of Knoxville will be using from a $10,000 grant from Keep America Beautiful and the UPS Foundation to contract public kudzu eradication to Natural Land Clearing, Inc. Pending approval by City Council, the goats, their Great Pyrenees watch dogs and security fencing will be in select City Parks restoring the land to its natural beauty while making previously unusable land available—and without environmental side effects from herbicides.

Kudzu, the vine that ate the South, can grow as much as a foot per day and it suffocates the vegetation that it encases. Herbicides are able to stifle their growth, but do not effectively kill it. This ivy-like, parasitic plant was introduced to the area in the first half of the 20th Century by farmers seeking to manage soil erosion and quickly became an invasive species that has suffocated the life out of many populations of native species.

Goats can significantly cut back the growth of kudzu vines within a few weeks, but after 2-3 years of revisiting targeted areas they can continuously remove kudzu sprouts and even graze down to the root for permanent removal and without the use of herbicides.

Keep Knoxville Beautiful, a Keep America Beautiful affiliate, was formed in 1978 by Knox County, the City of Knoxville, and the Chamber of Commerce as the Greater Knoxville Beautification Board. Originally formed to help 'clean up' prior to the 1982 World’s Fair, KKB plunged into community efforts to clean and beautify the community through its many programs. Adopt-A-Spot, The Orchids and School Pride programs paved the way for the organization to grow and the community to work together to accomplish the great idea of individual responsibility. For more information on Keep Knoxville Beautiful, visit www.keepknoxvillebeautiful.org.For questions regarding this program and to RSVP for the breakfast, call Keep Knoxville Beautiful at (865) 521-6957.