Sonoma County community uses sheep to reduce wildfire risk
With California's fire season just around the corner, cutting down the tall dry grass is going to be a priority over the next few weeks.
In the North Bay, tractors have been commonly used, but now grazing is gaining popularity.
While many contract out grazing services, one woman has been trying to encourage homeowners to take matters into their own hands.
Welcome to the Hunters Lane community grazing cooperative. A flock of a dozen sheep chows down on grass and goes from one home to another. While grazing has been around for a long time, Sarah Keiser took this to a whole new level after the 2017 wildfires.
"I just walked around the neighborhood, knocked on doors and said, 'Hey, do you want the sheep?' " Keiser said. "Essentially, the vision came from what was a burden to them was a resource to me. Through sharing the flock, we both benefited from it."
Now, there are about 12 community grazing cooperatives in Sonoma County.
Bo Laurent reached out to Keiser, hoping to get a few sheep to graze her property in 2020. She didn't know she was about to be talked into becoming a part of the community grazing cooperative.
"I don't want to be tied down all the time," Laurent said. "I'm getting older, and I like to travel. I have to go out places and I just don't want to have those constant tasks I have to take care of. She said no, no, you're going to share them with your neighbors. It's going to grow. I'm going to come over and tell you all about it."
Shortly after, she created a cooperative of 4 homeowners, and the sheep transformed her property, cutting down the grass that was more than four feet high.
"After the sheep were there not very long, I would go out and it would've opened like this," Laurent said. "You can see everything, you can walk around and you don't have to get covered with ticks. Also, the sheep were like, "Hi, what did you bring me? I like you.' It suddenly turned into a park-like, friendly atmosphere."
Laurent says the biggest change, though, to come from the cooperative has nothing to do with the sheep or the vegetation.
"The thing that has been the greatest for me is that it made my connections stronger," she said. "I was already friends with John and Sacha but it made our connection closer. It gave me connections that I didn't have before."
Grazing is becoming more popular, partly because of the cost. With the cost of fuel skyrocketing to power tractors and other equipment, people are starting to look at other options.
"It can be a tool but we are looking at that tool becoming more and more costly and more prohibitive," Keiser said. "Grazing is becoming more and more accessible and available."
The demand for grazing contractors has increased but Sarah Keiser is hoping property owners look at their long-term needs and the number of benefits that can come from co-owning these animals.
"We have a community that's now empowered with their own skills to take care of their landscape and do their vegetation management," she said. "They're not living in fear. They're empowered and stronger together to feel safe in this fire ecosystem that we live in."