The East Bay Regional Park District has deployed goat herds to Redwood Regional Park's West Ridge Trail and Skyline and East Ridge corridors for July and August 2026, with California Grazing Co. and Star Creek Land Stewards managing operations — part of a broader strategy to reduce fire risk by targeting the herbaceous understory, not the woody brush above it.

Along the West Ridge Trail and the Skyline and East Ridge corridors of Redwood Regional Park, the East Bay Regional Park District's 2026 goat grazing program is underway. The district's published schedule places herds at both zones through July and August, with California Grazing Co. and Star Creek Land Stewards managing the operations. Guard dogs travel with the herds — a standard arrangement on EBRPD grazing contracts.

The district is straightforward about the limits of its own planning: "The goat grazing calendar is only an estimate," the published schedule reads. "Park operations, weather, fuel height, and innumerable variables can impact the completion dates."

The decision to graze rather than mechanically clear reflects both the terrain — the West Ridge's steep slopes make machine work expensive and difficult — and the specific biology of what goats actually eat. Contrary to the popular image of goats as indiscriminate grazers, targeted grazing is considerably more precise. Research published in the journal Fire Ecology found that goat grazing reduced herbaceous cover by 87 percent in treated areas, including near-complete elimination of invasive Bromus grasses, but had little effect on woody species like chamise. The United States Forest Service has drawn the same line for decades: goats "should not be regarded as brush-clearing agents," the agency's guidelines state, but "can effectively check reversion to brush after initial clearing."

That distinction matters in Redwood Regional Park, where the most combustible summer fuel is the herbaceous understory — grasses and invasive annuals that dry fast and carry flame — rather than the mature woody canopy above.

Star Creek Land Stewards, one of the two named contractors, also manages grazing programs for Marin County Open Space District under a separate contract valued at up to $313,475. Targeted grazing costs in the Bay Area generally run $375 to $1,175 per acre, depending on terrain and duration.

For anyone on the West Ridge or Skyline and East Ridge trails through August, the work will be visible: herds moving across the slope, dogs stationed wide on the perimeter, and the grass going steadily shorter behind them.