The City of Paso Robles wrapped up this year's goat grazing season in the Salinas corridor as part of its efforts to reduce community risk from wildfires, city officials said.
The City used more than 850 goats to reduce hazardous fuel loading on over 95 acres of land. The operation lasted a total of 77 days and cost roughly $62,000.
Goat grazing is an approved method used to reduce the risk of wildfires in the city of Paso Robles that creates a firebreak.
Along with goat grazing, the city also sent hand crews that treated standing dead trees and heavy pockets of dead and downed materials. Roughly 35 acres were treated by hand crews at a cost of $60,000, city officials said.
Both operations were funded by the San Luis Obispo County Community Fire Safe Council, according to the press release.
Wildfire prevention efforts has been successful in the Salinas corridor, city officials said, claiming that fires in the area have decreased by 46% year to date.
Besides cleaning up the Salinas Corridor to prevent wildfires, the city's police department community action team had removed close to 300,000 pounds of trash from the riverbed since Jan 2021. The team continues to work with other city and county agencies and nonprofits to lower the number of encampments in the riverbed.
