City Grazing has over thirty domesticated, hungry goats waiting to unleash their insatiable need to graze on a vulnerable hillside or pasture near you in San Francisco.
San Franciscans are accustomed to seeing seemingly random groups of these hooved animals graze atop grassy areas across the city. Tourists, however, aren’t aware of this foliage-clearing normality — and are consistently gobsmacked at the sight of them munching along SF hillsides.
These goats aren’t just aimless peculiarities, mind you. They serve a purpose: to mitigate the risk of urban wildfires starting and spreading due to uncleared ground cover, helping to clear the dry, dangerously dense foliage commonly found along San Francisco hillsides.
Did you know: Grazing immediately removes potential fire fuel when the goats eat the dry weeds and brush.
The herd is still working behind Bret Harte Elementary School through Apr 2nd visible from 872 Ingerson Ave. #citygrazing #sfgoats #goatstoschools #firefightingfriday pic.twitter.com/wDTJKz25lV
— City Grazing (@CityGrazing) April 1, 2023
“Did you know: Grazing immediately removes potential fire fuel when the goats eat the dry weeds and brush,” writes City Grazing — the nonprofit tending and maintaining these goats — in a post on X earlier this year. While winter usually offers respite and less work (read: eating windows) for the goats, they’re the busiest grazing in and around parts of SF vulnerable to bushfire between the spring and summer months.
This was particularly on display in July of 2022 when thirty domesticated goat-antelope landed on the then-overgrown grass alongside one of San Francisco’s newest hillside parks, Francisco Park.
“30 goats have joined us for brush control on the southern hill dominated by poison oak and blackberry and will be with us for two weeks,” reads an update published by the San Francisco Park Conservancy in 2022, a non-profit organization dedicated to the upkeep and improvement of the SF park that opened in April of the same year.
The herd is still at Francisco Park @franciscoparksf through Monday, August 8th!
Check out this awesome footage of Ed, caught by @laurakmorton during an Al fresco SF dinner. 😍#franciscopark #lauramorton pic.twitter.com/AWjm3MWJkw— City Grazing (@CityGrazing) August 5, 2022
City Grazing is San Francisco’s goat-powered venture dedicated to sustainable land management and fire risk reduction — herds of which are commonly deployed at various sites across San Francisco; the local organization has grown into a social media darling ever since it began (responsibly) unleashing (now over) 100 (adopted!) goats on Bay Area residential and business properties over a decade ago.
Because the aforementioned 14-acre reservoir Francisco Park sits on was largely neglected over the past seven decades, its greenspaces had become overrun with poison oak. (Blackberry bushes, too, have also swallowed up the hill — which, though not as unpleasant as poison oak, are considered a highly invasive species, per the California Invasive Plant Council.)
As with any animal that isn’t a pet in one’s possession, the Francisco Park Conservancy always advises that everyone leave the goats alone whenever they’re around — “[observe] them from behind the fence,” and not “feed or pet them.” Moreover: Even giving them a cute little pat on their fur could expose you to the poison oak in their hair.
Next time you’re vibing at SF’s miniature Dolo greenspace near Aquatic Park, take a moment to appreciate the tidiness these goats made of the hillsides, doing their part in keeping our city safe from unnecessary brush fires.
If you want to rent these goats to help clear your grounds of unnecessary foliage cover — the folks at City Grazing will survey the land and give an estimate on just how many goats they’ll need to bring to clear the needed vegetation within two weeks — you can reach out here.
