Fire Mitigation
Wildfires are the nightmare of farmers, foresters, and property owners everywhere.
As wildfires grow in size and frequency, property owners are seeking natural and cost effective solutions for fire prevention and mitigation. Targeted grazing has been widely adopted as a valuable tool: sheep clear dry brush and grasses, leaving behind fertilizer that helps the soil retain moisture. Sheep can also reach areas inaccessible to equipment, such as in thick brush and forest, remote areas with no road access, or on steep slopes. And, they can do it at a much lower cost than manual or mechanical vegetation removal!
Grass and Brush Clearing
Dry brush and grasses are kindling just waiting for a spark. Vegetation management is a primary tool for preventing and mitigating fires. From forest underbrush, to dry grasses at roadsides or around farms, sheep are a cost effective method of cleaning up and removing vegetation. Not only do they remove fire fuels, they leave behind fertilizer and help to increase organic matter in the soil. This improves drought resistance, nourishes remaining plants and trees, and makes the land more resilient in the face of a devastating fire.
Defensible Space
Maintaing defensible space around your homes, barns, buildings, and other structures can be the thing that saves them. Clearing brush and vegetation away from structures, keeping any landscaping low and green, and using fire resistant ground cover materials (gravel not bark, for example) are all key protective steps. Sheep are a cost effective way to clear fire fuels from your defensible spaces; and, fertilize these areas. Increasing the organic matter and microbial activity in the soil, helps to make it more drought resistant, so that your landscaping stays greener, longer throughout the summer and fall months.
Inaccessible Areas
Washington, and in particular the Olympic Peninsula, hosts a stunning landscape of mountains, rivers, valleys, and oceans. This compilation makes for steep slopes and wetlands, small and large, across the terrain. These areas are often too steep, too wet, or too remote for machinery to access. Sheep easily traverse steep slopes, and their small size means much less compaction in wet areas. They (and their shepherd) can access remote areas by foot (or hoof).
Cheatgrass
Cheatgrass is an invasive plant especially prone to wildfires. It dominates the landscape and dries out early in the season, making for expansive and excellent wildfire fuel. Once wildfire occurs, slower-growing native plants burn along with the cheatgrass, allowing it to claim even more area after the fire (which further increases the fire risk). Not only that, but cheatgrass infested areas are more prone to soil erosion after a wildfire.
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Regular grazing with sheep reduces plant biomass (the fuel load) across even the most difficult terrain, which may be inaccessible to people, machines, or cattle (which can also be used to graze cheatgrass). Suppressing cheatgrass allows native plants to compete, which stay green later into the summer, helping to prevent wildfires. Fertilization by the sheep as they graze also increases the drought tolerance of the soil, further reducing the likelihood and impact of wildfires.
Resources
1 / Targeted Grazing for Wildfire Resistance
Tending the Land "Do the Work Targeted Grazing"
USDA Western Integrated Pest Management Center "Targeted Grazing Can Reduce Communities' Vulnerability to Wildfire"
University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources "Grazing for Fire Prevention"
UC Rangelands "Building Wildfire Resilience - Reducing Risk with Rx Grazing"
2 / Fire Mitigation Grazing in Action
Land Trust of Napa County "Sheep Help Restore Wantrup Preserve and Reduce Wildfire Risk"
MorningAg Clips "Farmers Encouraged to Use Targeted Grazing as Tool"
3 / General Fire Prevention & Mitigation
Washington State Dept of Natural Resources "Defensible Space - Prepare Your Home"; "Financial Assistance for Wildfire Resilience and Forest Health"; and, "Defend Your Home from Wildfire"
4 / Cheatgrass
Society for Range Management "Cheatgrass or Downy Brome"
Mosley, Jeff, Montana State University Dept of Animal and Range Sciences "Targeted Livestock Grazing to Suppress Cheatgrass"
​Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education "Cheatgrass-Eating Sheep"
Derek W. Bailey, Jeffrey C. Mosley, Richard E. Estell, Andres F. Cibils, Marc Horney, John R. Hendrickson, John W. Walker, Karen L. Launchbaugh, Elizabeth A. Burritt, Synthesis Paper: Targeted Livestock Grazing: Prescription for Healthy Rangelands, Rangeland Ecology & Management, Volume 72, Issue 6, 2019, Pages 865-877, ISSN 1550-7424.
University of Wyoming and Colorado State University "Cheatgrass Management Handbook"
Montana Field Guides "Cheatgrass - Bromus tectorum"