Prescribed Herbivory
Goats, sheep and their guard dog doing their job at Elings Park, Santa Barbara
Prescribed herbivory and grazing is a unique tool that can reduce fire fuels, create mosaics of open space in thick brush, reduce invasive species, improve soils and native habitat, and reduce the risk of high-severity fires. The approach is best suited for high-risk and inaccessible areas on private and public lands in the Wildland Urban Interface. LegacyWorks has collaborated on multiple fronts to improve our regional capacity to implement prescribed herbivory. During 2022, our team facilitated a Community Supported Grazing Program Summit held by the Ojai Fire Safe Council and the Community Environmental Council to generate regional level dialogue and opportunities to build capacity for a robust grazing program that can meet our regional needs.
Simultaneously, we partnered with the Cachuma Resource Conservation District and McGinnis Environmental to explore the potential to implement Prescribed Herbivory in the South Coast and Santa Ynez Valley portions of Santa Barbara County. With funding from the Santa Barbara Foundation, we engaged ecologists, grazing operators, fire experts, federal and county agency staff, public land managers, and private landowners who shared knowledge, needs, hopes and concerns. Opinions vary regarding the benefits and impacts of grazing as a tool for land management and maintaining open dialogue is vital at this early stage. By fostering a deeper understanding of logistics, capacity, regulatory requirements, ecological problems and costs we will be able to establish a more effective framework for implementation. Some outcomes of this work included the securing of CalFire funding to implement prescribed grazing on 2,000 acres of the Santa Barbara front country. Our team helped the Santa Barbara Fire Safe Council reach out to landowner partners in high risk areas. Together we have identified a critical mass of landowners in the Santa Ynez valley who are also included in the CalFire project.
