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GTG
Was lost but now am found
Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 2387
Location: Peoria, Arizona, originally from Rocket City, USA
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 Posted: 6/4/2003, 4:30 pm Post subject: goats as firefighters |
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Thursday, June 5th at 6:50 AM and 8:50 AM on 91.5 FM KJZZ
There's a report being played on Morning Edition about how they're using a herd of goats in the Prescott National Forrest to clear underbrush to remove potential wildfire fuel. And to think folks laughed at me when I suggested it.
GTG
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Good things come to those who walk. |
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paintninaz
Joined: 06 Jan 2003
Posts: 3515
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| Posted: 6/5/2003, 8:32 am Post subject: Re: goats as firefighters |
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| GTG wrote: |
| they're using a herd of goats in the Prescott National Forrest to clear underbrush to remove potential wildfire fuel. |
So they finally got Hooli, Mike and Randy working again, eh? 
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~Tracy
“Friends make the bad times good — and the good times unforgettable.” |
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GTG
Was lost but now am found
Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 2387
Location: Peoria, Arizona, originally from Rocket City, USA
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| Posted: 6/5/2003, 11:03 am Post subject: work and such |
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It looks like the whole hiking group is busy -
Hooli
The Gang
Hooli lost again
GTG telling his infamous "Calf Saving Story" for radio
Really though, listen to the story if you can. The goats are clearing 4 acres of underbrush a day at a cost of $137.00 per acre, versus $500.00 per acre to clear by hand. Additionally the Navajo goat herders are not having to pay for expensive feed this summer.
GTG
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evenstar
Joined: 03 Jan 2003
Posts: 5548
Location: SCW by way of CA
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| Posted: 6/5/2003, 11:31 am Post subject: |
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Goatboy, you're almost in as much porridge trouble as Paintninaz and she's already whinin' that she was framed 
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John Richardson and Richie Rich, El Perro de Playero
http://members.tripod.com/~evenstar/index.html
http://www.arizonahikers.com
When the Man waked up he said, "What is Wild Dog doing here?" And the Woman said, "His name is not Wild Dog anymore, but the First Friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always. Take him with you when you go hunting."
--Rudyard Kipling, from Just So Stories, 1902 |
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CatValet
Got Gear?
Joined: 04 Jan 2003
Posts: 735
Location: Scottsdale
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| Posted: 6/5/2003, 2:18 pm Post subject: |
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Hmmm, the one in the middle kinda looks like me....
One would hope they baste 'em good with BBQ sauce first, just in case there IS a fire...  |
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Arizonaheat
Got Supes Juice?
Joined: 04 Jan 2003
Posts: 1741
Location: Mesa, AZ
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| Posted: 6/5/2003, 5:03 pm Post subject: |
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It looks like Hooli has his hooves on the right feet. I like the new goat-tee he is sporting too.
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Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. |
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GTG
Was lost but now am found
Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 2387
Location: Peoria, Arizona, originally from Rocket City, USA
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| Posted: 7/1/2003, 5:31 am Post subject: Gobbling goats on cleanup duty |
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From today's Republic -
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0701goats01.html
Gobbling goats on cleanup duty
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Gobbling goats on cleanup duty
Mary Jo Pitzl
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 1, 2003 12:00 AM
PRESCOTT
Move aside, Smoky Bear. The gobbling goat could become the next symbol of fire prevention.
On the Prescott National Forest, 600 goats are tackling the buildup of forest fuels - one voracious mouthful at a time.
The herd is roaming over a 170-acre tract south of Prescott, chewing through chaparral choked with shrub live oak, mountain mahogany and manzanita.
"This is the kind of stuff that, when it's dry, feeds the fire," said Carl Jacobson, the contractor who connected the overfed forest landscape with the underfed goats.
In addition to reducing fire risk, the low-tech Forest Service project has another benefit: It provides much-needed feed for goats from the Navajo Nation, where drought has shriveled the food supply.
Rather than hauling hay to the reservation, Jay Begay hauled his goats and many of his neighbors' to the forest for a six-month ramble through stands of overgrown chaparral. He and his brothers are shepherds for the flock, which includes shaggy Angoras, droopy-earned Nubians and the Boer goat, which is valued for its meat.
Happiness abounds
Three months into the project, all parties are happy.
"The goats are gaining weight, so I think they're adapting well," Begay said.
He initially worried that the goats would have trouble adjusting to a ponderosa pine forest from their traditional mesa rangeland.
"I couldn't be happier," Begay said. "If my animals are happy, I'm happy."
So is Mike Creach, forest fuels management specialist with the Prescott National Forest. He's sold on keeping the goats in the forest's fire-reduction arsenal.
"It's not going to stop fires," Creach said of the browsing herd. "But it'll help stop those big fires from getting into town."
That's because the goats dine on the thick brush that can feed flames upward into the branches of pine trees, creating out-of-control wildfires.
Low-cost alternative
Jacobson is tickled that he was able to create a low-cost plan that serves the Navajos and the forests at the same time. His bid, using goats from the Navajo reservation, came in at $173 an acre. The goats are currently working a 170-acre tract of land not far from the stands of dead trees blackened by last summer's "Indian" fire. In all, they are assigned to cover 300 acres. Forest Service officials want them to eat up to 80 percent of the leafy brush, a goal they measure by eyeballing the landscape.
On a recent weekday, the goats trotted out of their pen, bells tinkling and kids bleating. Prodded by the frenetic moves of Lacy, a border collie, the herd eased over a small ridge and dispersed in the brushy cover of the downslope.
Visible results
In the background was a knoll the goats had browsed earlier. From a distance, large patches of brown earth were visible, pockmarked by low shrubs. To the west stood an untreated area thick with scrub, with little ground showing through.
A steady munching sound punctuated the quiet of the national forest, as the goats stripped shrub-oak branches of leaves. Bite by bite, at the rate of about 4 acres a day, the goats contribute to forest health simply by being hungry.
Creach acknowledges that overgrazing could be a worry if the goats were left in any one location for too long. But for now, the goats can't keep up with the regrowth. Plants are sprouting new foliage, drawing on a late-winter snowpack and spring rains.
"The goats can overeat stuff," Creach said. "But there's a big difference: Goats are heads-up browsing animals. Cows are heads-down grazers."
That means the goats focus on shrubs and brush, even standing on their hind legs to nibble at the berries on juniper trees. They show little interest in grass, which is favored by cows.
If the woody underbrush is kept in check, there's room for grass to re-establish on the forest floor, returning it to a more natural condition.
Further benefits
Creach sees other benefits to letting the mixed herd of goats wander through the forest. Their hooves churn up the ground, breaking down materials and mixing them into the soil. "It's like natural rototilling," he said.
And their waste product adds nitrogen and fertilizer to the soil.
The herd consists of adult females and kids, to keep the population in check. Once the mothers are finished nursing, they dry out, so there are no milking duties.
If there's any downside, Creach is hard-pressed to identify one.
"They leave bits of fur hanging on the bushes now and then," he said. "Overall, they are very light on the land."
They're also light on the Forest Service's budget, compared with upward of $500 an acre for mechanical treatment. Creach said his goal would be to use the goats as continuous maintenance after costly "brush-crushing" equipment is used to plow down woody stems and limbs.
For all their munching, the goats can't replace mechanical treatments. They don't do trees, and Creach said the Forest Service still needs to cut dead and dying trees, as well as thin out some healthy ones.
But he sees a continued role for the goats, as long as the forest undergrowth is thick and drought dries up feed supplies on the Navajo reservation.
"I could keep all the Navajo Nation's goats fat and happy for who knows how long," he said. "We have an abundance of chaparral that they could keep busy on."
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ck1
Joined: 04 Jan 2003
Posts: 1331
Location: Mesa
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| Posted: 7/1/2003, 8:08 am Post subject: |
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I heard the same story. I love the idea.
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"The Journey is the Destination" |
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