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Paso Robles expands riverbed grazing, permits and grants to reduce Salinas River fires
Summary
City officials described a multi‑year vegetation management program that relies on targeted goat grazing, mechanized clearing and new regulatory permits; officials said the measures have coincided with a sharp drop in riverbed fires and are funded largely by grants and partnerships.
Fire Chief Jay Ines told the Paso Robles City Council on Oct. 7 that the city’s Salinas River Corridor had become “heavily overgrown with, decadent dense vegetation making it prone to, intense fire behavior,” and that the city launched a vegetation management program to reduce that risk.
The initiative combines targeted goat grazing, mechanized equipment and hand crews. “Targeted grazing has become the primary method for our annual maintenance of the fire breaks,” Jay Ines said, adding that grazing accounted for roughly 84–85 acres this year while mechanized equipment treated about 32 acres. Ines said the city piloted goat grazing on 15 acres, found it “very successful,” and scaled it up.
City staff told the council the program required years of regulatory work before it could proceed. “It was a two‑year process to obtain a five‑year permit from the Regional Water Quality Control Board,” Ines said, and the city also secured a Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreement from California Fish and Wildlife and completed CEQA review with third‑party biologists.
Officials said the program has coincided with fewer and smaller fires in the riverbed. Ines cited data showing 129 fires and 35 acres burned in 2020 compared with 37 fires and 1.2 acres burned in 2024, and said those trends show the work is “worth it.” He described benefits including lower suppression costs, greater firefighter safety and increased community confidence.
Funding and partnerships are central, Ines said. He told the council the city receives roughly $180,000 a year from the San Luis Obispo County Fire Safe Council to support grazing and crew work, and that a CAL FIRE award of about $430,000 purchased mechanized equipment (including a remote track chipper) used in the city’s open spaces. Ines also said the grazing contractor used about 1,400 goats at peak this year and that grazing costs run about $700 per acre; he said crew costs routed through grants were roughly $12,000–$13,000 per day depending on conditions.
The city is seeking to renew a five‑year permit that expires in December and is exploring expansion of strategic breaks with San Luis County and continued grant funding. “We’re currently working on extending that for another five years,” Ines told the council.
Council members praised the collaborative approach. Councilmember Cam Gregory asked whether the Fire Safe Council funding is competitive; Ines replied it is, and that the city’s readiness and project pipeline help it secure awards. Councilmember Beal called the program a model of partnership among local biologists, grazers and grant providers.
Public comment raised related questions about causes of riverbed fires and whether people experiencing homelessness were starting fires; Chief Ines and the fire chief clarified that the majority of the recorded ignitions were human caused but the city cannot consistently attribute them to a particular population without direct evidence.
No formal policy vote occurred; council discussion focused on extending permits, pursuing grants and continuing the grazing and mechanized maintenance approach.
