Hammock Grove Sheep

For the fourth straight year the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island is proud to wel­come a fam­i­ly of five sheep for their sum­mer land­scap­ing jobs. Hail­ing from Friends of Tivoli Lake Pre­serve and Farm in Albany these sheep will spend the next five months munch­ing away on mug­wort, phrag­mites and oth­er inva­sive species, free­ing up the Island’s hor­ti­cul­ture team to do more impor­tant work. Evening, Chad, and Philip Aries, Jupiter, and Bowie are return­ing to Gov­er­nors Island for their fourth sea­son and will spend anoth­er sum­mer eat­ing inva­sive plants in Ham­mock Grove. 

The sheep pro­vide eco-friend­ly land­scape care that ensures the area’s bio­di­ver­si­ty can thrive for years to come and allows the Trust’s hor­ti­cul­ture team to use their time and tal­ents to focus on cul­ti­vat­ing an immer­sive, cli­mate resilient, eco­log­i­cal­ly ben­e­fi­cial open space where all New York­ers are able to learn from and recon­nect with nature. Sheep are also unique­ly suit­ed to the work on Gov­er­nors Island, more so than goats or oth­er ani­mals, since their culi­nary tastes do not include tree bark. The sheep eat around the young trees in Ham­mock Grove and focus on phrag­mites and oth­er del­i­ca­cies, while goats would devour vir­tu­al­ly any plant life they could get their hooves on — inva­sive or not.

Since this pro­gram first start­ed 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 sheep ate three acres of plants in 2022 and 3.22 acres in 2023. This work freed up thou­sands of work hours for the human beings that make up the Gov­er­nors Island hor­ti­cul­ture team, allow­ing them to focus on more impor­tant tasks. That includ­ed build­ing and land­scap­ing new path­ways in Ham­mock Grove that vis­i­tors to the Island can enjoy, among oth­er items.

Sev­er­al pub­lic engage­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties will be held on Gov­er­nors Island in part­ner­ship with Friends of Tivoli Lake Pre­serve and Farm with dates to be announced.