Solvang’s Favorite Tiny Landscapers Return to Help Prevent Wildfires Before Fire Season

The City of Solvang has brought back its popular four-legged fire crews ahead of the fire season.

The city has unleashed herds of goats at the Hans Christian Andersen Park as a fire-control tool. Over the next few days, the goats will graze and chomp down the vegetation at the park, helping to clear vegetation and reduce fire fuel loads.

Deploying goats as a fire prevention measure helps authorities to control vegetation without using any heavy equipment or chemical herbicides.

Citing city officials, a Santa Maria Times report said using goats also helps improve soil quality, reduce emissions, and promote sustainable land management practices.

City officials reminded visitors and residents to be mindful and respect the goats’ space when visiting the park.

City staff warned the public not to move or touch the electric fencing, and not to feed the animals, as they have an abundance of “food/work ahead of them.”

In 2025, the City of Solvang brought the herds of goats to the Hans Christian Andersen Park in June.

The authorities encouraged residents and visitors to visit the “hungry friends” in a social media post.

Popularity of Goat Grazing Program

The annual deployment of goats as a fire mitigation practice has been continuing for almost six years.

When the animals were first brought to the city in 2019, park officials noted that goats not only reduce fire fuels, but they also help control weeds.

The City of Santa Barbara implemented a similar measure earlier this year, when a herd of sheep was brought to graze around 16 acres of open space across four parks. The sheep were brought in to help the park managers remove overgrown grass and brush, maintain defensible space between homes and parkland, reduce wildfire risk, and create safe access routes for firefighting operations.

Santa Barbara has been using sheep and goats to graze at its parks since 2015 as a vegetation management tool.

Over the years, several cities and agencies across California have been deploying herds of goats as an eco-friendly fire prevention tool.

In 2000, Caltrans hired 400 goats and a herder to remove brush along a two-mile stretch of Highway 101 in Sonoma County. An ideal choice for targeted grazing, the goats were capable of consuming between an acre and an acre-and-a-half of dry vegetation per day, according to Caltrans.

The Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council offers a free online platform that serves California. The platform connects livestock producers looking for seasonal pasture and landowners searching for a small flock of sheep for vegetation control.

While livestock, such as goats, sheep, and cattle, are often used as vegetation control and fire mitigation measures, goats are  preferred because of their ability to efficiently access steep slopes, where machinery struggles.

Unlike other livestock, goats tend to browse on woody vegetation and consume higher hanging vegetation, usually up to six feet above the ground.