A herd of 900 goats and sheep took part in a wildfire prevention effort in Southern California. CAL FIRE promoted the effort on social media and linked to an ABC7 segment detailing its benefits to the surrounding community. The grazing took place above Ventura Avenue.
CAL FIRE posted about the initiative on social media Sunday, describing a Southern California landowner using a CAL FIRE Wildfire Prevention Grant
to put the animals to work “to help stop future wildfires,” and pointed to an ABC7 segment detailing the benefits to the surrounding community. According to
Totally Local VC
, the grazing targeted hillside fuel beds that have long worried fire officials in the area. CAL FIRE said the landowner secured the grant with help from their local fire safe council.
Representatives of the Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council were present at the site, where people carried fencing.
Why Goats Go Where Machines Can't
Targeted grazing has become attractive to fire agencies because it can address terrain that stumps conventional clearing crews. Goats can graze steep or sensitive slopes where heavy equipment is impractical or unsafe, and grazing avoids mechanical sparks.
CAL FIRE Wildfire Prevention Grants have supported projects such as the Ventura grazing effort.
Grazing as a Wildfire Prevention Tool
California's Wildfire Prevention Grant program has supported targeted grazing projects, including the Ventura effort.
The push fits into California's larger Nature-Based Solutions Climate Targets, which call for treating 1 million acres a year through a mix of beneficial fire, mechanical clearing, and managed grazing. Other recent projects reflect that same strategy, including CAL FIRE's prescribed burn at Swanton Pacific Ranch on October 8. The ranch has also used 960 goats for land management, while open space authorities used defensible-space grazing following the Palos Fire above La Habra Heights.
A Labor Law Change Threatens the Model
Even as state funding expands, the industry doing the actual grazing is under financial strain. A temporary agricultural overtime exemption for California goat herders, created under Senate Bill 143, expired on July 1, subjecting herders to standard agricultural labor rules requiring an hourly minimum wage of $16.90 plus 24-hour on-call overtime. Because herders typically live on-site and monitor their flocks around the clock, the California Globe reported that estimated annual labor costs per herder jumped from roughly $64,000 to more than $240,000.
In August, State Senator Melissa Hurtado and a bipartisan coalition of 32 state legislators urged Governor Newsom to restore wage parity between sheep and goat herders, warning that without a fix, grazing companies could be forced to shut down or slaughter their herds. The wage rules also raise concerns for the state's grazing businesses.
In Pasadena, community stewards pushed to pause a 600-goat grazing project in the Arroyo Seco this spring. The Ventura Ave project is another effort to use grazing for wildfire prevention.
