Editor’s note: This story is part of NWPB's efforts to report not just on problems, but on how our communities are seeking solutions. Want to see more stories like this? Let us know at [email protected]. Support this kind of work by donating today.
How can goats be used as a tool for fire mitigation? NWPB’s Rachel Sun joined host Avery Cooper to discuss.
Avery Cooper: So, Rachel, a story you recently reported on explores the use of goats for fire prevention. What can you tell us about that?
Rachel Sun: Yeah, I was curious about learning more about the way goats and other grazing animals, like sheep and cattle, are used as a fire mitigation strategy. Animals can be specifically useful in scenarios that you might call point protection. Maybe a wildland-urban interface near a home, maybe a hill where it’s difficult to get heavy equipment.
Specifically, goats can be really useful for that type of thing. They also have some upsides that other fuel mitigation strategies don’t, but there’s also some unique downsides to using animals because, of course, you have to make sure you’re thinking of their welfare.
Cooper: Your story follows a man, Craig Madsen, who rents out goats for a variety of jobs. Could you tell us more about how that service came into fire prevention?
Sun: Craig has been renting out his goats for about 20 years, and he came from a background of land management and a government job, and kind of wanted to do something else.
A lot of jobs he does and has done in the past are actually related to weed control and invasive species control. Goats specifically, they don’t eat everything, but they eat a lot of animals that a lot of other animals might not be interested in.
Cooper: And, coincidentally, some of the things they like to eat are some of the things that fuel fires.
Sun: Exactly. Usually, a landowner does have a specific reason. They either want to get rid of invasives or they want to do fuel mitigation, but the impact can be that there’s both a reduction in invasive plants and wildfire fuel.
I was actually just talking to a guy looking into doing this on his land, and he’s got a bunch of thistles, and it also grows up and then it gets dry, and it’s just a hotbed of fuel for fire. Goats can be great for that type of situation.
Cooper: You also talked to a Cheney resident and cattle farmer, Maurice Robinette, and he noticed how a fire impacted two neighbors who had different approaches to fuel mitigation. What did Maurice notice?
Sun: Maurice had fire come through part of his land and his neighbors’ in 2023. That was the Gray Fire. There’s two neighbors that have property next to each other, and one had done pretty aggressive fuel mitigation that included grazing, and one hadn’t done any of that.
The fire burned through both of those pieces of land, but one was a lot hotter and faster than the other one. So, on the neighbors’ property where they hadn’t done any fuel mitigation, when it reached a major highway, it jumped that highway, and it kept burning, he thinks, about another 500 acres, and threatened about six more homes.
And then, on the side, just across the property line, where there was a bunch of fuel mitigation, it stopped.
Cooper: How costly is typical fire mitigation, and how does using goats compare to that cost?
Sun: The most recent data from the National Interagency Fire Center is 2023, and it was just a little bit short of $1,200.
Cooper: Per acre?
Sun: Per acre.
Cooper: Wow.
Sun: Yeah, that’s a big investment for the community. Goats can depend a lot depending on the situation. So, potential costs include transportation and watering the animals. Very broadly, it can often be a few hundred dollars.
Cooper: That’s a big difference. So, this story is part of InsightsNW, NWPB’s effort to produce more solutions journalism. What makes this kind of reporting unique?
Sun: Yeah, you know, a lot of the time, journalism focuses on a problem once it’s at our doorstep, and everyone is in panic mode a little bit. And what solutions journalism aims to do is take a step back and look at ways that you can find solutions to a problem before it gets to that critical point. You look at what people are doing in other places. Whether it works, why it works —if it does — what challenges they faced, and how it might be implemented somewhere else.
Cooper: Alright, thank you very much, Rachel. Great reporting.
Sun: Thanks, Avery.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
