The Hills are Alive - with the sounds of Angora goats along the Appalachian Trail.  This is the fifth year of the Baatany Goat Project and also my fifth year making images of the Goats of Roan.

The goats graze along the Appalachian Trail between Jane and Grassy Ridge Balds at an elevation of 5,800 - 6,100 feet.             

The project's purpose is to restore the vegetation on the Grassy Bald corridors using the goats as an experimental management tool.  Roan's Grassy Balds are home to many rare plant species including the Gray's Lilly and are believed to pre-date European settlement. 

While the goats browse they are protected within a 1+ acre paddock by a solar-powered electric fence and a Great Pyrenees dog.  When they achieve the desired level of browsing they are moved to a new paddock.  Browsing rotation and vegetation sampling protocols are being developed that can hopefully be applied elsewhere.

This is a volunteer-based project.  Click on this link to find out more - The Baa-tany Goat Project. 

Take care,

Jeffrey