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ACCORDING TO LIZ - In Vermont the leaves are already turning red and gold presaging the coming winter, however this fall the tourist show-stoppers aren’t colorful trees but Jay Peak Ski Resort’s newest employees. Who are busily munching away on the slopes winter sports enthusiasts will soar down after the snow falls.
The discordant whine of weed-whackers has been swapped out for something wearing a hairy coat instead of a full metal jacket, something quieter, eco-friendly, and a whole lot hungrier, eating what nothing and nobody wants, shin- and ski-grabbing shrubs and invasive weeds including poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac.
Goat-scaping is organic, chemical-free, and just about the lowest-impact way to clear ski trails using radio collars tied to a geofencing system that keeps the herd focused on two acres at a time, rotated every couple of days to fresh forage. It also supports independent Vermont farmers, and makes the mountain sound more like a Sound of Music pasture than a work site.
But brush abatement isn’t only needed on distant mountains.
With the Los Angeles fire season now stretching year-round, on September 3rd the City Council voted 11-0 on a motion to reduce wildfire risk through a pilot program using goats for dry scrub and weed clearance in the City’s less accessible hilly areas, especially high fire-hazard zones.
Councilmembers Bob Blumenfield and John Lee introduced the motion in July, pointing to Palos Verdes, Laguna Niguel, and Pasadena as other SoCal cities already using goats for brush control. Experts point to the practice as more sustainable, improving soil health, helpful for carbon capture as well as a way to eliminate invasive plant species.
The Los Angeles Fire Department is expected to report back on feasibility and costs within 60 days.
Goats have been a fire department-friendly solution elsewhere in the Southland for years, gobbling up dry undergrowth along freeways and in other hard-to-reach brush-prone areas.
LA County has been pushing goats and sheep as an environmentally beneficial method for wildfire mitigation and management in places like the Santa Monica mountains of Topanga (home to the world's largest fire-suppression base) and other challenging terrain, clearing flammable vegetation without harmful chemicals and a minimum of noise.
In addition to being eco-friendly and quiet, goats and sheep need no gasoline, no pesticides nor herbicides, and no loud machinery. Traditional mechanical methods have aggravated the problem by helping plants propagate, scattering seeds far and wide, while goat digestive juices sterilize seeds and destroy rhizomes.
The animals come with automated soil amendment and disposal systems built in, grinding any remaining vegetation along with their nutrient-dense manure into the topsoil.
Property owners in very high fire hazard severity zones are mandated to maintain their property in compliance with fire codes year-round, and those who fail to meet the standard face fees and further inspections.
Love the concept but can’t take on a fulltime herd where you live?
After all, due to the cost of maintaining its flock, the Getty Villa no longer employs goats “to nibble away the flammable brush around its 110-acre hillside campus in Brentwood.”
However, since firing their hairy scrub-clearing herd a decade ago, the property has suffered several wildfires that gained traction in underbrush, most recently the Palisades Fire in January which followed fast on the heels of the December Franklin Fire.
What’s a property owner with difficult-to-clear acreage to do?
A Los Angeles company, Party Goats along with casting their animals in movies and television shows, offers brush-clearing goats for smaller lots on hillsides and difficult-to-access properties.
Fire Grazers Inc. requires a minimum of five acres.
Ojai-based Shepherdess Land and Livestock Company provides larger-scale consultation and services to private land owners, public agencies, land trusts, municipalities, as well as regional, state, and federal agencies to develop prescribed grazing programs.
(Liz Amsden is a former Angeleno now living in Vermont and a regular CityWatch contributor. She writes on issues she’s passionate about, including social justice, government accountability, and community empowerment. Liz brings a sharp, activist voice to her commentary and continues to engage with Los Angeles civic affairs from afar. She can be reached at [email protected].)
