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San Clemente resident briefs committee on pilot goat‑grazing fuel‑reduction project at Hermosa Sports Park
Summary
A resident who runs a pilot livestock grazing program described results, community outreach, and operational learnings from using goats, a donkey guardian and targeted grazing to reduce fire fuels on city slopes.
Mike Kaye, a San Clemente resident and the presenter, updated the committee on a pilot project using livestock — primarily goats — to reduce brush and invasive plants on steep slopes near Hermosa Sports Park.
Kaye said the pilot was conceived as a fuel‑reduction exercise and has demonstrated the goats’ ability to reduce fire fuel loads without chemicals or large hand crews. He described operational practices intended to reduce negative impacts reported in earlier regional trials: the goats are kept offsite at night in an enclosed shelter, moved in to graze for limited daytime hours (about five hours), and restricted from sensitive native habitat using electric fencing.
Kaye said the pilot also aims to develop best practices for suburban settings: targeted grazing rotations of about an acre at a time, monitoring for sensitive species, and volunteer protocols. He reported outreach efforts and community visitation have been strong but said the public presence has introduced management challenges, including teenagers entering the corral and occasional trash at the site; he said he plans to add signage and reduce unsupervised public access.
Kaye described grant‑seeking and commercialization efforts: he said he submitted a commercial bid that included grazing to a local HOA and that staff at CAL FIRE have engaged on potential grant funding. He noted steps the city must consider for a larger recurring program: insurance, liability, environmental review and potential limits to publicization of goat locations if the program scales up (several nearby municipalities have stopped publishing goat locations after public‑access issues arose).
Committee members and staff raised operational questions and accepted Kaye’s offer to host visits for commissioners and neighbors. Kaye noted the herd includes a “guardian donkey” named Steve that deters coyotes and protects the herd. He also said goat companies in other cities often run larger operations; his prototype emphasizes smaller, rotational grazing tailored for suburban parcels.
