Wildfire goat grazing program gets renewal

Barbara Diamond

City officials hedged their bets Tuesday against goat grazing as the

best, most inexpensive way to clear rampant brush on city hillsides.

The council voted unanimously to extend the goats’ $594,000

contract for three more years, but tacked on a 60-day termination

clause and required spot checks of grazed areas by a botanist.

“We are upset by the destruction of biological habitat by the use

of goats for fuel modification,” South Laguna resident Michael Beanan

said.

Beanan submitted photographs taken by a South Laguna Civic

Association subcommittee, which he said showed the destruction. The

committee recommended renewing the contract for only one year and

enforcement of the boundaries for goat grazing.

“I think they are cutest things in town,” Councilwoman Toni Iseman

said. “They are happy to go where we send them and we don’t pay them

a lot.

The cost breaks down to $16,500 a month, $198,000 a year.

“But they are overgrazing and we don’t clean up after them,”

Iseman said.

Mayor Elizabeth Pearson got a giggle from the audience when she

asked if Iseman would recommend hiring the city’s pet waste collector

to follow behind the goats.

The goats graze in one area and deposit the seeds in another area,

often where the seeds would not naturally flourish.

Goat grazing has been criticized as overzealous and as too little,

City Manager Ken Frank said. He recently visited Top of the World,

where neighborhood association members pointed out areas of brush not

cropped as low as it could be.

“It is my impression that most people want grazing,” Frank said.

“A couple of areas [in town] were a little overgrazed, but I would

caution the staff that it is not a problem this year. The problem is

too much to graze.”

Frank suggested having a botanist spot-check grazed areas. The

city already has a botanist go into new areas before the goats are

herded there to make sure no significant habitat is endangered, he

said.

The city Fire Department administers the goat-grazing.

Funding for the contract will be included in the annual budget, a

draft of which is to be reviewed by the council at a workshop set for

9 a.m., Saturday, at City Hall, 505 Forest Ave. For more information,

call the city Fire Department, (949) 497-0700, or the City Manager’

office, (949) 497-0704.