"There's a need for goats pretty much all across the U.S.," says Aaron Steele, co-founder of Goats on the Go, a network of 75 affiliate goat businesses in 25 states — including California and New Mexico, where the goats aid in wildfire prevention. In the steep hills of California's Sierra Nevada region, for instance, according to the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, the changing climate is impacting annual weather patterns, causing drought and affecting snowpack accumulation and runoff. All this is putting the region at an increased risk of fire.

Goats are sure-footed, and they enjoy scrambling up steep terrain and getting to the vegetation that's difficult for humans to eliminate. Considered browsers, goats prefer woody plants, soft shoots and shrubs as opposed to grazers, such as cows, who are happy chowing down on grasses and low-lying vegetation. This makes goats ideal to clear areas of high-growing woody plants that fuel wildfires.

"Historically," says Cheryl Post, a natural environment specialist with the City of Toronto, in Ontario, Canada, "animals have shaped and maintained prairie and meadow ecosystems."

Deer and bison brought nutrients to the soil through their wastes, reduced woody growth, prevented the spread of fires and enhanced native seed germination as their hooves stomped and aerated the soil surface. Goats mimic these actions on a smaller scale, which is why the City of Toronto initiated the Prescribed Goat Grazing Pilot Project for two days in June 2024. If left unmanaged, urban meadows, such as at Don Valley Bricks Works Park in Toronto, would become susceptible to the encroachment of woody vegetation (trees and shrubs) such as buckthorn. A small shrub found in the woodlands and open fields of Ontario, it forms dense stands under which few other plants can grow and eradicates habitats for both ground-nesting birds and wildflowers such as milkweed, a host plant for the larvae of the endangered monarch butterfly.  

If Toronto decides, based on the pilot, to pursue goat-scaping, it will not become a panacea replacing other methods of land management.

"The idea of the goats is to be part of an integrated management system of best management practices," Post says. These include mowing, prescribed burning and even chemical use. McCracken of the PPC concurs that goats are another tool in the toolbox, one that he's happy to have.

There are challenges in asking goats to come to work for you. They have thin pelts and need shelter, which means in cold winter weather they aren't able to work out in the open. They are able to break down seeds of invasive plants in their stomachs, so what is excreted does not spread the species they're eating, but this also makes them susceptible to parasites such as stomach worms.

"Goats are very intelligent and very curious," says Steele. "You can use that to your advantage because it drives them to search out the best food all the time." A good and bad trait, it turns out. He can laugh about it now, but he'll admit that fetching goats from the tops of trees — after they scramble up for juicy tidbits and get stuck — can be infuriating.

But in the scheme of things, these inconveniences are minor. A perk of Toronto's goat grazing trial was the amount of public interest it received. Since the trial's conclusion, Post has fielded inquiries from cities across North America on how to start a goat grazing project. One question that comes up frequently is how the animals are treated. 

"The goats were friendly, not nervous, were well cared for, and happy to do what they were doing," Post affirms.

Sometimes people will see a goat with a limp, and despite being assured that the injury has been treated, they will become very concerned about the animal's welfare. "It's less stressful for it to stay with the herd than take it home and isolate it," Steele says. As herd animals, goats like having company. 

People, it turns out, also like goats.

"Park visitors love seeing the goats at work; their presence brings a lot of joy and adds to the park experience!" says Alana Wenk, director of advancement for PPC. "The goats are always in a secure, enclosed area, accompanied by a protective donkey that keeps them safe from potential threats like coyotes or dogs."