Southern California Edison helps with wildfire mitigation in Shaver Lake

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - Over the people of 4 years, goats person been eating vegetation to forestall brushwood from interfering with powerfulness lines successful Shaver Lake.

“What tin we bash to grow the mode we negociate our vegetation up here?”

That’s the question that fueled vigor company, Southern California Edison, into mounting up the Goat Grazing Pilot Project.

“Using a much biologic method, similar animals, goats, to benignant of traverse the steep terrains retired present was besides reasoning astir safety,” Southern California Edison’s Sarah Hendrix said.

She says erstwhile the goats started grazing, the institution could chopped backmost from having histrion crews traverse the land.

The goats' accordant grazing implicit clip helps the vegetation either turn backmost astatine much of a manageable tallness oregon successful immoderate cases, not turn backmost astatine all, which helps with wildfire mitigation efforts.

“And besides helping permission a lighter footprint connected the situation due to the fact that we are successful a much environmentally delicate area. So having the goats, you know, person a lighter footprint connected the ungraded has helped retired a lot,” said Hendrix.

The goats travel from the company, Chasin’ Goat Grazing.

 Co-owner of the company, Chase Cianfichi, says there’s grounds that goat grazing has been successful.

“The herd present contiguous has 100. In years past, we've had astir 400. And the crushed for that is we conscionable person little vegetation,” helium said.

Twice a year, the goats graze 26 acres of land, getting escaped of each kinds of antithetic vegetation, including poison oak and poison ivy.

“They volition devour that and past benignant of springiness them a amended thought to wherever they tin spot and they benignant of negociate it a small better,” said Cianfichi.

And what’s beingness similar with the goats?

“Some benignant of similar doing their ain happening immoderate similar to beryllium petted connected they conscionable benignant of similar they person a caput of their own,” helium said.

In the future, Southern California Edison hopes to grow goat grazing successful different areas of Shaver Lake.