This goat is shown munching on plants at Erindale Park in Mississauga in 2024. The animals have become a key part of the city’s efforts to battle invasive species. (Photo: City of Mississauga)

With sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-to-high teens expected in Mississauga on Saturday, city officials hope many people consider that the perfect weather for a little goat gazing as part of an educational experience at a popular west-end park.

The annual Invasive Species Awareness Fair, again hosted by the City of Mississauga, also promises a healthy dose of family fun, organizers say.

The event takes place May 30 at Erindale Park, from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and it’s open to people of all ages.

City officials went public in summer 2023 with a plea to residents to help them in the fight against a number of invasive plants that pose a threat to Mississauga’s natural environment.

The Invasive Species Awareness Fair is presented as a very public — as well as interesting and fun, the city says — way to educate more residents on the subject.

“Invasive species are plants, animals, insects and micro-organisms that are not native to the area where they are living,” city officials said earlier. “They can cause harm to native species and create an imbalance with ecosystems and habitats. The City of Mississauga is leading the way in invasive species management guided by its Invasive Species Management Plan, and has spent many years actively addressing various species across the city.”

Invasive species second-biggest threat to biodiversity

Invasive species are the second-biggest threat to biodiversity after habitat loss, the city noted earlier. They can negatively alter Mississauga’s parks, woodlands, natural areas and wildlife habitats.

“Invasive plants can take over the space, change the soil composition and compete for nutrients, making it harder for native plants to grow,” officials have said.

Invasive insects, meanwhile, can cause direct harm to trees and other native plants by transmitting disease or eating the leaves or stems, they added.

Before-and-after photos show successful control of Common Reed (Phragmites Australis), an invasive species in Mississauga.

“Consistent effort and adaptive management are required to maintain invasive species populations at levels that do not impact native ecosystems. Mississauga has established strong programs to ensure management is effective and lasting.”

The invasive pests can also be toxic to humans, the city has determined.

Yes, the goats play an important role

And then there are the goats, who are actually a great help in the battle to keep a lid on invasive species, Mississauga officials point out.

Not only are they participants in the upcoming fair, the four-legged hooved creatures are the stars of the daytime show, many would say.

“The goats are ‘herding’ back to Mississauga for their first public appearance of 2026,” city officials said in a media advisory last week announcing details of Saturday’s fair, a free-of-charge family friendly event where visitors can try hands-on activities, join nature walks, learn how to help manage invasive species and see goat grazing in action. Live music and face painting for kids are also part of the day’s activities.

But for the most part, the goats are known to steal the show.

“In 2024, Mississauga became the first municipality in Ontario to use goat grazing to control invasive species,” officials continued, adding visitors to the fair can “watch the goats as they graze and learn more about prescribed goat grazing.”

A Mississauga volunteer serving as a nature steward removes invasive plants in the city.

For a third consecutive year, Mississauga is enlisting herds of goats to help in the ongoing war against harmful invasive plants in parts of the city.

City officials confirmed in February that dozens of goats will once again be strategically deployed this spring and summer to carry out a relatively new and “unique approach (to the area) to managing invasive plant species to help restore the city’s wetlands.”

The partnership with the common domesticated grazing animals proved successful in 2024, the first year of the program, so the city signed them up again in 2025.

Encouraged yet again by the goats’ collective performance, city officials quickly planned to set the helpful animals loose in specific parks and other grassy areas in 2026 as well.

The goats have been “transformational”

“Goat grazing has been transformational” in Mississauga, the city said several months ago in announcing year three of the program.

The practice is known as prescribed goat grazing and involves the use of livestock to address management concerns in habitats adapted to grazing, such as meadows and prairies, officials noted earlier.

Essentially, the goats are used “as natural lawnmowers to control invasive plant species like buckthorn, phragmites and reed canary grass — non-native invasive species that threaten local biodiversity,” the city said.

City officials said Mississauga was Ontario’s first municipality to use this method to control invasive species when it launched the program two years ago.

Mississauga uses the goats to target invasive plants across 1.2 hectares of natural areas at five sites in the city.

“Goat grazing is a low-impact and chemical-free approach to invasive species management,” the city said earlier this year. “Forestry staff are implementing a three-year monitoring framework to evaluate grazing effectiveness across diverse habitats and multiple invasive species. Through the goat-grazing program, Mississauga has been a leader in innovative, evidence-based conservation and other cities have followed.”

While doing their job throughout the spring and summer, the goat herds are monitored by professional herders and protected by portable fencing, “so there’s nothing for residents to be concerned about,” the city said.

Two weeks ago, the city received the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation for its increasingly popular goat-grazing program.

(Photos: City of Mississauga)


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