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Our favorite sheep are baaaaaaack for the season on Governors Island.
For the fourth consecutive year, a team of upstate woolly animals has been "hired" to stroll the grounds at Governors Island and help control invasive species of plants to preserve the area's ecosystem.
Evening, Chad, Philip Aries, Bowie and Jupiter have already left their home at Friends of Tivoli Lake Preserve and Farm in Albany to spend the spring and summer in Hammock Grove, where they'll also be part of several public engagement events and programming that include hands-on wool activities, live sheep herding sessions, Q&As with on-site shepherds and more.
According to an official press release, since the program first kicked off in 2021, "the sheep have eaten roughly 14.5 acres worth of invasive plant species, starting with a whopping 8.26 acres that first year."
The animal particularly love herbaceous vegetation—think grass, phragmites and flowering plants like mugwort and sunflowers. These plants happen to be competitive ones, crowding other species within the park and essentially creating a monoculture. By eating them, the sheep will help weaken them and prevent them from spreading too much.
In addition to keeping the vegetation under control, the sheep have helped free up thousands of work hours for the folks on Governors Island's horticulture team, allowing them to focus on other goals "like building and landscaping new pathways in Hammock Grove that visitors to the Island can enjoy," reads a press release.
Feel free to go meet the cuties at any point throughout the next few months. Find sheep-related programming details right here.