About Us

We are a dedicated team of advocates committed to providing exceptional care to our beloved animal co-workers, protecting green spaces, and promoting sustainable land stewardship.

Volunteers Make It Possible!

Volunteering your time helps us ensure high-quality animal care, restore land, and strengthen local communities. When we work together in big and small ways, we can help transform hillsides, neighborhoods, and our region for years to come.

“I feel privileged to be part of the team that stewards these furry environmental heroes! I love checking in on them to provide water, head scratches, snacks, and praise as they do their work to save the planet one leaf at a time.”

-CS, Volunteer

Learn More About Volunteering
Volunteer with a goat in a snowy outdoor setting. The staff is wearing a neon yellow safety vest and black winter clothing, including a hat, and is bending over. The goat is wearing a red plaid coat.
A smiling volunteer wearing sunglasses and a yellow shirt taking a selfie with a black dog outdoors on a sunny day, with green trees and blue sky in the background.
A volunteer wearing a wide-brimmed hat with sunglasses on it, a yellow long-sleeve shirt, and dark pants, is interacting with several goats among green trees in a wooded area. The person is holding a smartphone in their right hand
A volunteer wearing glasses and a black cap taking a selfie with four goats outdoors under trees in sunlight.

Through our work, we strive to be:

Greener

Our goats naturally excel on terrain where machinery cannot work efficiently or safely, providing an environmentally friendly approach to land management and restoration.

Healthier

We partner with municipalities, organizations, and land managers to bring our animals to ecologically degraded spaces to remove vegetation, without the use of harsh chemicals.

Sustainable

Through this work, AGS promotes responsible urban animal care and public education about local flora and fauna, as well as sustainable land stewardship practices.

Allegheny GoatScape Staff

Hillary smiling and hugging two goats outdoors near a tree.

Hillary Steffes
Interim Executive Director

✳︎ pronouns: she/her

✳︎ pronouns: she/her

Allegheny GoatScape is delighted for Hillary's return to head the organization as Interim Executive Director, where she oversees staffing and projects, while supporting our outreach and operations. As the first person AGS ever hired, she has extensive knowledge and experience working with our goats and donkeys as well as our amazing staff and volunteers on goatscaping projects all over Western PA. A lifelong learner and adventurer, Hillary is a strategic problem-solver with a penchant for understanding and caring for the long-term health of her immediate community. While she cherishes all the restorative work AGS gets to do, she particularly appreciates our collaboration in South Side Park and all of the coordination efforts and dedication of Friends of South Side Park (shout out to Kitty!) who work so diligently to restore a massively disturbed site. Of course, Goat Fest is also held there, which is near and dear to all our hearts!

Erin wearing glasses smiling and hugging a brown goat with long, floppy ears and a blue collar with a yellow tag outdoors.

Erin Gaughan
Herd Health Manager

✳︎ pronouns: she/her

✳︎ pronouns: she/her

Erin first became involved with Allegheny GoatScape as a volunteer in 2020. She quickly realized how much she loved the organization as it lies at the intersection of her two interests: environmental stewardship and animal care. She was initially hired as our first community engagement coordinator in 2022, formalizing our volunteer program and building it into an essential component of Allegheny GoatScape's operations. In 2025, Erin transitioned to the role of Herd Health Manager, where she oversees the well-being and care of our beloved animals. We are delighted to have her in this position, for which she seems to have been made.

Gavin in an orange beanie and a gray hoodie with Penn State logo, sitting and hugging a goat, surrounded by other goats, inside a rustic wooden barn.

Gavin Deming
Founder and Former Executive Director

✳︎ pronouns: he/him

✳︎ pronouns: he/him

In 2017, Gavin established Allegheny GoatScape as a non-profit, after Steel City Grazers hung up their hats and a friend suggested using the herd to eat up overgrown vacant lots. The goal was simple, use goats to work with partners, land managers, and municipalities to address invasive plants throughout Allegheny County in an ecologically friendly way. Skipping ahead a decade, we’ve all seen the positive effects goats have on landscape restoration, not to mention the joy they bring to all who see them! In May 2026, Gavin put away his muck boots and stepped away from AGS, though it will always hold a special place in his heart.

Maggie Rose
Field Supervisor

✳︎ pronouns: she/her

✳︎ pronouns: she/her

Maggie is an Appalachian-born and city-raised goat enthusiast from the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area. After moving to Pittsburgh, she sought to deepen her understanding of the region by working for local farms and exploring various conservation organizations. These experiences brought her to Allegheny GoatScape where she seeks to further combine her passions for conservation, skill-sharing, and community building. When she’s not working in the field, Maggie enjoys secondhand shopping, trying new recipes, and curling up with a book and her cat, Doc.

Niquelle taking a selfie with goats in a barn or stable.

Niquelle Abdul-Malak
Fundraising & Communications Coordinator

✳︎ pronouns: she/her

✳︎ pronouns: she/her

Niquelle first joined Allegheny GoatScape as a volunteer in 2023 when she befriended House Balthazar at Garfield Community Farm. She officially came on staff in October 2025 and is grateful for the chance to blend her varied experience and passion for sustainability, writing, and community-building. When she’s not researching grants, or posting about what our animals are up to, she’s hiking, taking photos, or traveling in her van with her husband, Dave, and wise dog, Minerva. She loves sites with frequent visitors like The Waterfront, and especially appreciates Mildred who so clearly communicates her preferences with everyone nearby.

Rhi and Pete smiling as they hug in a wooded area.

Rhiannon Kline
Field Staff

✳︎ pronouns: she/her

✳︎ pronouns: she/her

Rhiannon moved to Pittsburgh in 2023 from southeastern Ohio, bringing with her a love for the Appalachian region and the wealth of its natural spaces. As a lifelong "critter enthusiast," her passion for animals and nature led her to Hocking College, where she earned an Associate of Applied Science in Wildlife Resources Management. Before joining Allegheny Goatscape, she worked for many years as a Horse Wrangler and Trail Guide and once backpacked across the western United States. She is also an aspiring artist and musician, and hopes to use these skills to broaden popular appreciation for wild things. Her favorite sites include the South Side Park and those with a history of heavy disturbance, where the impact of restorative environmental work can be felt most evidently.

Allegheny GoatScape Board of Directors:

  • Martina Battistone, Board President | Practice Lead, Social Pinpoint

  • Emily Bell, Board Vice President | Senior Human Resources Director, University of Pittsburgh, Finance and Operations

  • Carmen Bray | Senior Director of Communications and Community Outreach, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy

  • Gavin Deming | Executive Director, Ex Officio

  • Robin Eng | Ecological Program Specialist, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

  • Dorothy Hammett, Board Secretary | Certified Executive Coach and Certified Life Coach

  • Joanna Lemmon | Community Program Manager, The Student Conservation Association

  • Kendall Pelling | Executive Director, Rising Tide Partners

  • Max Nitke, Board Treasurer | Project Analyst, RDC: Railroad Development Corporation

  • Hana Uman | Program Officer, Posner Foundation

  • Stacy Pane-Willis | Grants Analyst, ALCOSAN

Our hardworking herds and human team are cultivating a greener, healthier Pittsburgh

Close-up of a young goat with white and gray fur, standing on dirt with a wooden background.

Employee of the Month:
Kama

Our goats are at the heart of our mission

Crew One

This herd, with many of the OG “Team Hobo” members, is the herd that started it all in 2017. Crew one currently has 17 goats and our first donkey, Hobo.

Golden Goats

This team includes many of our sweet and semi-retired elder goats, and their longtime miniature donkey protector, Pete. They work on sites that are less topographically challenging and help with educational events.

Crew Two

This hardworking herd currently consists of 16 goats and 2 donkeys. They can often be found working in two smaller teams on adjacent projects.

Two goats standing on a tree branch amidst green leaves, one black and white and the other brown with white patches, looking in different directions.
Close-up of a black donkey with a brown snout, lying among green leaves and bushes outdoors with a background of trees and blue sky.
Close-up of a goat with a dark brown coat and tan markings, chewing on green leaves, wearing a pink collar with a blue tag, in a garden with green foliage and a partly cloudy sky.
Several goats grazing and standing among dense green foliage and trees.
A group of goats standing in a green forested area with trees and bushes, some wearing colored collars and tags.
A goat with brown, black, and white fur, wearing a yellow collar, standing near a tree trunk and surrounded by green foliage, with houses visible in the background.