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Oroville Hires Goat Grazing Business To Clear Fire Fuels

Abbots Ford Community Garden

Up to 1,200 goats will munch on grasses and other fire fuels ahead of this year’s wildfire season in Oroville.

The City Council this week hired a grazing business to clear vegetation along the Feather River corridor and about a dozen other areas in the city.

Oroville resident Bobby O’Reiley told the council a similargrazing project helped avert disaster after a fire sparked near the Feather River last year.

 

“I literally watched the embers float from the fire side of the river and land where the goats had been,” he said. “And the goats’ grazing literally saved that fire from spreading into downtown.”

 

The council authorized city staff to enter a three-year contract with Western Grazers for a total of $240,000.

 

This year’s work could begin around June and end around the start of August.