No Joke: Calif. Group's Bright Idea To Solve Wildfire Problem: Hire Goats!
Portions of the state of California recently suffered from destructive and deadly wildfires that some have argued were worse than they should have been because of state government regulations.
Many voices — including that of President Donald Trump — called out California’s predominately liberal government for bowing to the whims of environmentalist groups and imposing strict regulations on forest management that effectively prohibited the logging and clearing of the dead trees and underbrush that served as fuel for the fires.
Many of those same voices rightly argued that, were the state government to do away with — or least ease off a bit — those regulations, much of the fuel consumed by wildfires could be properly disposed of, dramatically reducing the risks of future blazes.
There were rumblings among some in the California government about doing just that, but little progress has been made yet in that regard, so a small town in northern California has taken action on its own to try to reduce the wildfire risk in their area in a manner permitted by law.
Nevada City, located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, has launched what they have dubbed the “goat fund me” campaign, a fundraising effort with the stated goal of hiring a herd of goats to help clear underbrush in a wholly natural way — by having it eaten, The Associated Press reported.
The fundraising campaign is seeking to raise $30,000 to pay goat ranchers who will graze their herds on city-owned land during the winter months. After the initial investment, the town hopes to pay for the goats through grants.
The use of goat herds to clear overgrown land is actually nothing new, but the window of opportunity for Nevada City to hire a herd to do so is brief, as several other municipalities have already booked the herds to clear their own land over the rest of the year.
“Why not do something — and as soon as we can?” Vice Mayor Reinette Senum said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times . “If we’re not proactive, if we don’t help ourselves, no one else is going to step up.”
There is likely a sense of urgency behind this move, given the fact that Nevada City is less than 50 miles southeast of the town of Paradise, which was all but destroyed by a wildfire in November that claimed at least 86 lives and burnt down an estimated 14,000 homes.
According to city officials, the cost of hiring a herd of goats can range from as little as $500 to as much as $1,500 per acre. An average herd of around 200 goats can completely clear an acre of underbrush in about a day.
Officials were said to be excited about the project and looking forward to taking proactive steps to protect the property of the city and residents within their jurisdiction.
City Manager Catrina Olsen said the idea of using goats was popular with most of those she had spoken with, and the idea was “catching on because there’s such high fire danger in our state.”
A local rancher named Brad Fowler seemed intrigued by the “interesting” fundraising campaign and has been assisting the city in its attempt to rent a herd of goats.
“I like how people can choose to spend their money,” Fowler said.
To be sure, using goat herds to clear underbrush is an interesting and natural method of wildfire prevention, and it would likely prove difficult to find anyone with any serious objections to the use of goat herds for that necessary purpose.
That said, the use of goats to save small towns and cities from wildfires — and the need of said municipalities to launch fundraising efforts to afford such — would not be necessary if the state were to ease its radical environmentalist restrictions against logging that have allowed the build-up of deadwood that fuels wildfires in the first place.
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