Yorba Linda begins pilot program using goats to clear brush from city-owned Bastanchury property

 

Yorba Linda officials are inviting the public to a “meet and greet” featuring the goats that will be used for a pilot program to test the efficacy of using the furry brush-eaters to clear weeds from city-owned properties.

The pilot program will run from May 17 through May 30 at the West Bastanchury Road site between Casa Loma and Eureka avenues that the city once leased to a group that in 2003 planned to build a 1,200-student Friends Christian High School campus.

The “meet and greet” is scheduled as one of the events planned for the return of Love Yorba Linda Day on May 22, after a year's absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A time for the goat greeting will be advertised on the city's website and through the city's social media.

The City Council approved the pilot program at a May 4 meeting for a total cost of $12,990, which will include use of a tractor with a brush-cutter and hand crews on the 40-acre site. A second clearing of tumbleweeds in October – sans goats – also is included in the price.

Anaheim, Irvine, Laguna Beach and Laguna Niguel “have used goat grazing for many years as a means for weed abatement, and it has proven effective,” Public Works Director Jamie Lai reported to the council. Another firm bid $48,000 for the same program.

Lai said the winning bidder, Sage Environmental Group, will install a low voltage fence to keep the goats in a specified area, and dogs will protect the goats from predators at night. From one-half to one acre can be cleared each day by a herd of 100 goats.

Lai noted that the use of goat grazing “is typically more costly per acre than traditional hand-crews and mechanical equipment,” but “in terrain where hand-crews and large equipment have difficulty with access, goats can be a safe and environmentally friendlier alternative.”

Lai said, “The West Bastanchury site is an ideal pilot site due to its mostly flat landscape, the larger acreage and the visibility of this site, with the city being able to see first-hand easily the specifics of this method.”

She also said that “the ideal and most cost-effective locations would be in sloped, difficult-to-access areas, and should this pilot program prove effective, staff will explore other locations within the city.”

The city has about 80 acres of undeveloped property that it either owns or maintains through easements, which require annual weed abatement, based on defensible space requirements established by the Orange County Fire Authority.

The $12,990 price includes the goat grazing on a portion of the West Bantanchury property this month, use of a tractor with brush-cutter and 210 hours of labor at $41.27 per hour this month and in October and holding and promoting the May 22 “meet and greet” with the goats.

For information on the Love Yorba Linda day of service, visit loveyorbalinda.org. The website lists projects with openings for volunteers, sponsorship opportunities and contact information.