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Land­scap­ing Sheep Return for Fifth Year on Gov­er­nors Island

Jun 26, 2025 2:47 pm

Post by Amy Wang, Com­mu­ni­ca­tion & Pub­lic Affairs Intern at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. 

If you vis­it Ham­mock Grove this sum­mer on Gov­er­nors Island, you might stum­ble upon a flock of sheep munch­ing away on weeds and shrubs. The icon­ic crew — Evening, Chad, Phillip Aries, Bowie, and Jupiter — first arrived in 2021, board­ing the fer­ry with sheep insur­ance and a big appetite. But 2025 will be their fifth and final sum­mer on the Island.

Loy­al Gov­er­nors Island fol­low­ers have been heart­bro­ken over the news. ​“The shear audac­i­ty!” ​“How could we fire them?” But the truth is: the sheep have done their job too well, and they’re near­ing the end of their intern­ship — or internsheep, if you will.

The sheep hail from Friends of Tivoli Lake Pre­serve and Farm in Albany and were brought in to tar­get inva­sive plants like phrag­mites, bindweed, and mug­wort — aggres­sive species that com­pete with native plants for space, nutri­ents, and mois­ture. By repeat­ed­ly graz­ing areas con­tain­ing these plants, the sheep weak­en the inva­sives’ rhi­zome sys­tems and pre­vent the seeds from spreading.

But sheep aren’t the only ani­mals that parks and open space can enlist for hor­ti­cul­tur­al help. Goats were briefly con­sid­ered for the job, but sheep ulti­mate­ly won out due to their more refined culi­nary palate. While goats will eat vir­tu­al­ly any plant life they can get their hooves on — native or not — sheep pre­fer soft inva­sives like mug­wort and phrag­mites. Besides, the sheep seem to take their role seri­ous­ly: Baaad mug­wort. Baaad bindweed. Baaad phrag­mite. Chomp. All gone. 

Each sheep has their own sto­ry — and per­son­al­i­ty. Evening is the con­fi­dent leader of the group, with her son Chad at her side. Bowie and Jupiter are fra­ter­nal twins: Bowie is lit­er­al­ly the ​“black sheep” of the flock, while Jupiter is known for her lov­able ditzi­ness. And they always look out for one anoth­er. Just recent­ly, when Bowie slight­ly injured his hoof, the oth­er four stood by pro­tec­tive­ly, gaz­ing at him with qui­et con­cern, as the vet­eri­nar­i­an checked up on him. 

The sheep have also grown close to the hor­ti­cul­ture team, espe­cial­ly the gar­den­er Melis­sa Per­rin, their human best friend and de fac­to shep­herd. Per­rin knows each sheep by their dis­tinct facial mark­ings and tail lengths, and she’s learned exact­ly what they want after a long day’s work: ​“An arm­ful of hay for all five of them,” she laughs — plus a treat of molasses-cov­ered pellets.

As Gov­er­nors Island cel­e­brates its 20^th year open to the pub­lic, the sheep are also cel­e­brat­ing their own mile­stone: grad­u­a­tion. They’ve become beloved ambas­sadors of the Island’s inno­v­a­tive eco­log­i­cal hor­ti­cul­ture prac­tices. In just five sum­mers, they’ve earned a loy­al fan base — and even have their own merch! Stop by the Wel­come Cen­ter at Sois­sons Land­ing Fri­day to Sun­day to pick up your very own sheep plushie.

The shear love for the flock is clear. Vis­i­tors ask about their future: ​“Where will they be going???” ​“Will they be retir­ing to a sanc­tu­ary after this?” ​“They deserve to live peace­ful­ly” they say. After their fifth and like­ly final sea­son, the sheep will return home to the Friends of Tivoli Lake Pre­serve and Farm in Albany, where they’ll con­tin­ue to live out their lives in peace, munch­ing away on upstate inva­sive species. 

Hap­py grad­u­a­tion to the sheep of Gov­er­nors Island! Your baaaril­liant lega­cy lives on in every cleared path, thriv­ing tree, and grate­ful visitor.