Each year the U.S. Federal Government spends about $5 billion to control invasive and noxious weeds like kudzu and cheatgrass. We spray tons of toxic chemicals onto these weeds in a struggle to stem the over $120 billion in damage to the U.S. economy. Instead of just using chemicals, crop-dusters and BLM workers though, we should put native “goats” such as Bighorn, Antelope and Dall’s Sheep on the government payroll! We’ll pay the little fellows in all the noxious weeds they can eat. Of course, in some cases, native species may not work, due to the obvious increase in wolves and predators which some ranchers don’t like. But there are hundreds of candidate areas around the countries where animal weed control would do the job, saving us up to $1.6 billion per year in direct costs, up to $38 billion per year in economic damages. Further, the animals could control potentially fire-prone brush and offer a secondary hunting and food benefit for sportspeople. In some areas, introduced goats could be put to the task.
Idea No. 2662