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.
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