THE GOATS of ROAN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY : Jeffrey Stoner www . JeffreyStonerPhotography . com
In 2006 I wanted to see if I could make a living from my landscape photography . So , after much thought , in 2007 Bonnie and I both left very good jobs and relocated from Pennsylvania to Tennessee to be near the western North Carolina art market . We jokingly say we loaded up the truck and moved to Tennessee .
Little did I know that a year later the focus of my photography would begin to change . In 2008 Bonnie read an article about the 10-year Baa-tany Goat Project and suggested I photograph the goats that were the heart of the project .
The project , started by botanist Jamey Donaldson , was intended to determine if the grassy balds on Roan Mountain ’ s western slopes could be restored by employing goat grazing . The Roan Mountain bluet , Roan Mountain goldenrod and Gray ’ s lily are a few of the rare species that depend on these open grassy habitats .
For hundreds of years animals grazed the balds and kept invasive plants at bay . However , for the past 50 + years no animals have grazed the balds and woody plants like the Canadian Blackberry began to flourish . Luckily , that ’ s one of the goat ’ s favorite foods .
Every summer volunteers herded two to three dozen goats up the Appalachian Trail from Carvers Gap , across Round Bald ( 5,826 ’), down to Engine Gap , and then back up to Jane Bald ( 5,820 ’). The goats grazed a 9-acre area between Jane Bald and Grassy Ridge Bald ( 6,184 ’).
A solar powered electric fence and a Great Pyrenees dog or two kept the goats safe . Every few weeks a new area was enclosed by fencing and the goats herded to a new paddock .
At the end of summer , the goats were herded back to Carver ’ s Gap and returned to their farm in Shady Valley , TN .
I got to know Jamey and the goats and looked forward to photographing them every summer . The image Appalachian Trail Mix was made just after they moved into a new paddock . Jamey , a volunteer , and I moved the goats from their old paddock into a new one . When the goats enter a new paddock the first thing the alpha goat does is claim the highest spot . However , Big Dog raced ahead and claimed it before Blue could get there . Blue attempted to push Big Dog off the rock but Big Dog refused to move . After several minutes Jamey encouraged Big Dog to let her have it and all was well . On the rock you can see the white stripe that designated where the Appalachian Trail had run before it was moved several yards to the East . The trail runs along the Tennessee / North Carolina border and the mountains in the background are in North Carolina .
Jamey published several botanical studies on the project which proved that goats could indeed control the invasive plant species .
After the Project came to an end , I continued to photograph them on their Shady Valley farm and the goats at the Good Fibration Goat Farm in Weaverville NC north of Asheville NC .
PORTFOLIO MAGAZINE 69