San Clemente’s fire prevention goats will continue grazing hillsides as city staff assess long-term costs to try and make the program permanent citywide.
This update follows an earlier council decision in August 2025 to extend the pilot program using goats to reduce wildfire fuel in open space areas until March 31.
City council members are anticipated to discuss extending the program again when reviewing the city’s budget in April or May, according to City Manager Andy Hall.
Editors’ Note: This dispatch is part of the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service, working with student journalists to cover public policy issues across Orange County. If you would like to submit your own student media project related to Orange County civics or if you have any response to this work, contact admin@voiceofoc.org.
Cities like Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel and Mission Viejo have already adopted goat grazing services for wildfire prevention and fuel mitigation — moving away from chemicals over the years.
During a San Clemente City Council meeting last month, officials received an update from staff about the possibility of scaling the program into a wider vegetation management strategy ahead of the warmer months.
The city is looking to slow down plans for broader expansion through a phased approach, as leaders consider long-term costs, environmental safeguards and how the effort would operate under a formal city contract.
It comes as South Orange County residents have been raising concerns about herbicide use in local waterways that feed into Doheny State Beach up the coastline in Dana Point.
Criticism has grown to the point that it prompted county officials to pause the chemical’s use in San Juan and Trabuco Creeks.
[Read: Santana: Herbicide Spraying of South OC Waterways Halted, For Now]
San Clemente’s pilot program, launched in early 2025, uses goats to eat dry brush and invasive plants in open space areas, particularly on steep slopes where heavy machinery can be difficult or costly to deploy.
What began as a small, community-led effort has expanded significantly over the past year.
The fire prevention goat herd is owned by San Clemente resident and former firefighter Mike Kay.
“It has been a blessing and a privilege to be able to serve our community and to provide an unusual but financially, economically, environmentally very positive means of dealing with some of the invasive species and fire fuel load that we have here,” Kay told council members during their meeting on Feb. 17.
While council members praised the program’s visible results, they also raised questions about whether the city can afford to expand it at scale. The council previously set aside $100,000 to continue the pilot.
“This money is more or less for the goats themselves and the maintenance of the goats, not that (Kay) is making a profit on this,” Councilmember Mark Enmeier said at the meeting.
Enmeier also raised questions about long-term costs.
Community Development Director Adam Atamian said that the current funds would not come close to covering the level of fire prevention work that could be needed citywide.
He also noted that the exact costs have not been calculated.
“If we want to continue with a fire prevention program that could include goats as well as other fire prevention means, we would need added funds coming into our revenue,” Enemier said. “That could possibly be made through citizen initiative, with a sales tax initiative.”
As a pilot program, city staff noted that at some point officials must determine whether there is enough in the budget to continue at its current level or seek additional funding sources, potentially including grants or other community-backed initiatives.
While officials worry about finances, there is currently a citizen-led sales tax initiative proposing a 1% local sales tax increase, which would be 1 cent for every dollar spent. If approved by voters, the funds would go towards beach restoration and wildfire prevention, including goat grazing.
[Read: San Clemente’s Long Struggle to Save Its Disappearing Coast]
The initiative has received 7,119 signatures that have been submitted to the city for legal review before it can be added to a future ballot, according to the website for the effort.
The goat herd has grown to about 100 goats currently grazing city hillsides, Kay said. An additional 25 baby goats have been born since the program began.
Over the past year, the goats have grazed roughly 25 cumulative acres, including some hillside areas that were treated three times as vegetation regrew in different seasons.
“Today we saw red-tail hawks swooping down at rodents running about. They couldn’t do that two years ago — it was six to eight feet of growth over them,” Kay said at the meeting. “We all marveled at how the environment, in so many unexpected ways, has changed in such a positive way.”
More than 20 community volunteers have participated in the effort, with three to five typically assisting on any given day, Kay said.
The goat grazing effort is one component of San Clemente’s broader wildfire mitigation strategy that includes applications for state and federal grants to treat hundreds of acres through a combination of grazing, mechanical clearing and other fuel-reduction methods.
Laguna Beach has been using goat grazing for fire fuel reduction since the early 1990s. Other cities, like Irvine, Laguna Niguel and Mission Viejo, use Sage Environmental Group for their fire prevention planning, which includes using goats.
