LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) —When it comes to fighting invasive plants, Flint is going against the grain and bringing in goats.

Starting next week, 48 hungry grazers will munch their way through eight overgrown parcels near Ramona Park, targeting dense thickets of Buckthorn that have crowded out native vegetation and swallowed up neighborhood greenspace.

MORE NEWS: Michigan Lawmakers React to Operation Midnight Hammer

The Genesee County Land Bank, which received a grant from the Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network to fund the effort, says the goats offer a cheaper, greener alternative to traditional clearing.

“Buckthorn is notoriously difficult to eliminate,” Kelly Jewett, an urban conservation fellow with the Land Bank, told ABC 12 News. “By clearing invasive Buckthorn this way, we’re not only protecting water quality and improving wildlife habitat, we’re restoring neighborhood greenspace that’s been underutilized for far too long.”

Before the grazing begins, machines will handle the first cut, setting the stage for a three-phase grazing rotation through the summer.

Locals can meet the four-legged crew in person at a “Meet the Goats!” event on July 25 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Ramona Park.