NV Energy is first utility to dispatch goat herds for wildfire prevention.
Wildfires continue to threaten the Sierra and beyond. In addition to the miserable smoke, we’ve seen the devastating effects these disasters have on towns, national forests, and thousands of acres of terrain — some caused from lightning strikes or unattended campfires, others from high winds, downed power lines, or human error.
As part of its Natural Disaster Protection Plan and in an effort to mitigate damage from rampant flame and smoke, NV Energy became the pioneering utility in the country to deploy goats to thin small, highly combustible fuels, also called flashy fuels, and reduce brush in the power company’s right-of-way areas.
“We have our hand crews who trim to lower the risk of wildland fire impacting our infrastructure, but 2021 was the first year we deployed Spanish goats to help with the job,” explains Mark Regan, fire mitigation specialist with NV Energy.
Working with Denton Cook, owner and operator of High Desert Graziers, based in Smith Valley, Regan and his team identified two specific areas ideal for the hooved animals to do some brush clearing: The first was 100 acres along Spooner Highway, and second, a 60-acre area near Caughlin Ranch in Reno.
“There was steep terrain and heavy overgrowth that hadn’t been treated. [Once they were done,] all the flashy fuels were removed and about 60 percent of the vegetation,” Regan adds. “What it does is stops the continuous fuel. So we’re changing the fire dynamics with how it travels across the land and lowering the intensity of the fire because we’re spacing the vegetation out.”
Goat Power
When compared to other means of weed control, the Spanish goats are effective while presenting minimal risk to the environment.
“If you use machinery and people on whatever needs to be chopped down, you have to get rid of it and haul it out,” Cook says. “Spraying with chemicals is definitely not good because it doesn’t work. The weeds rally and come back even stronger. Goats recycle everything in place. Each goat consumes up to six pounds of vegetation every day. They are the only livestock that will eat cheatgrass at any stage, and they have an extremely light impact on the grounds.”
As for future fire seasons? NV Energy plans to continue to deploy the four-legged, weed-eating machines.
“We want to make Nevada safer in and around our infrastructure and protect the communities and our customers by improving the reliability of our system,” Regan says.
Heidi Bethel recently purchased a home with an acre of land, and she’s seriously considering a small farmstead complete with a goat or two. Thanks to the research for this story, she has a few more selling points when the topic arises with her husband.
