Targeted grazing nibbles away at wildfire risk while nurturing the soil.
As the western United States faces larger and more destructive wildfires each year, innovative solutions are needed to reduce the risk to communities and landscapes. One increasingly utilized approach is bringing in some woolly helpers: goats and sheep. The technical term for strategically employing goats or other grazers to cultivate landscapes is called “targeted grazing” or “managed grazing.” This practice involves allowing sheep, goats, and other animals to graze in specific areas to achieve land management goals like wildfire risk reduction.
Targeted grazing takes advantage of grazers’ natural foraging behaviors to address issues like excessive vegetation holistically. Goats and sheep preferentially munch on the grasses, brushes, and shrubs that make perfect wildfire fuel. Unlike indiscriminate machinery, they delicately select the most flammable vegetation while leaving the soil intact. When deployed at the correct time of year, specific species of plants that may be threatened or endangered can be avoided. One study found that goats can reduce brush cover by 95% in targeted areas. With less dry vegetation available to burn, the spread and intensity of possible wildfires are substantially reduced.
Fuel Load Lighteners
In addition to directly impeding wildfire spread, grazing animals play an important role in generally reducing vegetation fuel loads. Fuel loads refer to the overall mass of dried plants, grasses, and branches that accumulate on the landscape, awaiting a rogue lightning strike or stray spark to ignite into a blaze. By continually cropping this flammable material, goats and sheep help lower the risk of catastrophic wildfires erupting in the first place. They lighten the fuel load so that any fires burn cooler and slower, with less risk of forming into large, fast-moving wildfires.
An Earth-Friendly Approach
Unlike intensely mechanical interventions, targeted grazing offers a sustainable, ecologically friendly alternative for vegetation control that minimizes machinery and chemicals. The hoof shuffles, head shakes, and tail switches of grazing animals gently shuffle native seeds into propagating grounds. Their nutrient-rich fertilizer nourishes the soil while their silly antics bring joy to spectators.
Gaining Popularity
This sustainable, holistic grazing approach is rapidly gaining traction for its versatility and customizability across terrains. Not limited to remote natural areas, targeted grazing can be employed anywhere from urban green spaces to wildland boundaries. These voluntary vegetation managers may see their rangelands expand as word spreads of grazers’ landscaping savvy and fire-dampening prowess.
Beyond strategically munching wildfire fuel, these woolly landscapers have proven themselves handy helpers in various other vegetation management challenges. Where invasive species like cheatgrass, juniper, or blackberry bushes threaten native ecosystems, an army of grazers can be deployed to feast on the competition selectively.
Rotational grazing programs provide economic stability for livestock producers while promoting soil health and carbon sequestration. During winter months, targeted grazing reduces vegetation biomass, which, as manure, later enriches the soil as spring decay sets in. Four-legged weed whackers provide an earth-friendly alternative to noxious herbicides for vegetation upkeep in both wilderness and neighborhoods.
Perhaps most uniquely, the herd possesses the skill to transform rough, overgrown patches into neatly manicured parks and vistas, allowing community residents to better control litter and other pollution problems. With biodiversity and community benefits, targeted grazing offers much more than wildfire solutions. As this Swiss Army Knife approach to land management increases in popularity, innovative new applications for goats and sheep will likely continue to evolve. Their versatility and adaptability are matched only by their tireless hunger and determination to improve any landscape assigned to them, mouthful by mouthful.
Targeted Grazing in Rewilding
Targeted grazing aligns well with rewilding goals of restoring more natural ecosystem processes and dynamics. As grazers trim back encroaching brush and excessive grasses, they can open up room for native wildflowers and grasses to reestablish. Their nibbling mimics the vegetation impacts of now-extirpated wildlife like elk, supporting the return of biodiversity. By aerating and fertilizing soil through their hoofprints and manure deposits, goats and sheep set the stage for rich habitat regeneration. Particularly in landscapes without intact wild grazer populations, deployment of targeted grazing essentially substitutes for missing ecosystem engineers. When combined with other rewilding efforts like carnivore reintroductions, targeted grazing helps pivot ecosystems back towards their historic, self-willed state, one nip at a time.
See also: London Rewilding Projects – Making the city Green Again.
Though the western wildfires show no signs of dying out, they finally may have met their match with targeted grazing. Moving forward, land managers will continue leveraging sheep and goats’ remarkable vegetation management abilities to cultivate less fire prone landscapes. With so many eco-friendly benefits, targeted grazing promises to be an expanding component of comprehensive wildfire management. The humble goats and sheep deserve applause for their unique and largely unheralded contributions as four-legged firefighters and ecosystem engineers.
