I should add that moles and hedgehogs might do beneficial work somewhere in the food chain, but I have not seen it.
Locally, the people at Metro Parks have brought in a herd of goats to clear a hillside above the Willamette River of its wild blackberry and ivy growth. The summers of forest fires has enlightened urban parks to the peril of downtown hillsides covered in dry noxious weeds perilous to neighborhoods. They expect the herd, rotating on and off in groups of 200 or so, to munch off the noxious weeds in two days, all without the use of chemicals or equipment that would have run off into the river or damaged the slope, respectively. This solution is a welcome reprieve for the neighbors who otherwise would have heard the engines of mowers instead of the bleating of happy goats. The news report added that their sharp little hoofs turn and aerate the topsoil and they benevolently leave behind small deposits of randomly distributed organic fertilizer. Hurrah! Karen
