Pepperwood is utilizing the munching power of goats to help us reduce fine fire fuels in the grasslands and oak woodlands surrounding our Visiting Scholar Center. The goats are targeting brush to reduce the impacts of the next wildfire on our infrastructure. Defensible space is a critical component of keeping our communities safe from wildfire, and the goats are helping to accomplish this – but how exactly do they do this?

Goats are natural browsers who prefer coarser roughage to grass, making them an ideal ally in stewarding fire-dependent landscapes. Their grazing preferences naturally complement other grazing animals, like cows, because they’ll eat the weeds and dense roughage that cows will not – not to mention, their smaller size and nimbleness allows them to reach fodder in places cows can’t go. They leave in their wake a more defensible landscape and, of course, some feces, which nourish the soil after they’ve moved on.