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View Fact Sheet

LandSmart® Grazing Private Lands

Back to all Projects
This Project has an Update in progress.
Proposal
Planning/Design
Implementation
Post-Implementation
Completed

Contents

Project Overview

Basics

Forest Management
Wildfire Mitigation
LandSmart® Grazing Private Lands

Implementation
Gold Ridge and Sonoma RCDs are partners in the LandSmart Grazing Program. This project supports interested neighbors or community groups to utilize grazing to reduce fuel load and make their communities safer in the face of wildfires. The goal is that exposure to this type of vegetation management and community support of grazing will add a cost effective and needed tool to manage vegetation not only to reduce fire risks but also to improve biodiversity and manage vegetation in a more carbon beneficial manner. The benefits to community cohesion, coordination and morale are anticipated to grow as the project process unfolds and more projects are implemented.

2021
2021
2025
3/17/2025

Project Attributes

Census Tract Income
None
Direct Benefits to Disadvantaged Communities (DACs)
None
EnviroScreen
None
Free and Reduced Lunch
None
Indirect Benefits to Disadvantaged Communities (DACs)
None
Tribal Engagement (True/False)
None
Tribal Engagement
None

Location

To zoom, hold down Shift and drag a rectangle.
Locations for grazing support are throughout Sonoma County.

12 Selected
  • Estero Americano (180500050302)
  • Upper Sonoma Creek (180500020301)
  • Schell Creek-Frontal San Pablo Bay Estuaries (180500020502)
  • Salmon Creek (180101090201)
  • Russian Gulch-Frontal Pacific Ocean (180101090202)
  • Upper Santa Rosa Creek (180101100702)
  • Porter Creek-Mark West Creek (180101100706)
  • East Austin Creek (180101100801)
  • Ward Creek-Austin Creek (180101100802)
  • Green Valley Creek (180101100901)
  • Porter Creek-Russian River (180101100902)
  • Dutch Bill Creek-Russian River (180101100903)

Organizations

Funders
  • AmeriCorps
  • Private party
  • Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District
  • Sonoma County, CA
Lead Implementer
  • Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District
Partners
  • Fire Safe Sonoma
  • LandSmart
  • Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District
  • Sonoma County, CA
  • Sonoma Resource Conservation District
  • University of California Cooperative Extension - Sonoma County
Primary RCD
  • Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District
Stakeholder
  • Private party
State Assembly Voting District
  • State Assembly District 02
State Senate Voting District
  • State Senate District 02
Other Partners Contract Grazers, Wild Oat Hollow, Sonoma RCD

Contacts

William Hart - Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District (Gold Ridge RCD) (william@goldridgercd.org)

Performance Measures

Expected Performance Measures

Fuels Reduction CAL FIRE UNIT: Sonoma-Lake Napa Project Objective: Defensible Space Property Ownership: Private Treatment Type: Prescribed Grazing 213.18 acres
People Participating in Activity Constituent Type: Agricultural Community Primary Service Type: Fire Safe/Firewise 19
People Participating in Activity Constituent Type: Landowners Primary Service Type: Fire Safe/Firewise 25

Reported Performance Measures

Fuels Reduction
CAL FIRE UNIT Project Objective Property Ownership Treatment Type Total 2024 2023 2022 Units
Sonoma-Lake Napa Forest Resiliency Private Prescribed Grazing 1,157 N/A 1,157 N/A acres
Sonoma-Lake Napa Defensible Space Private Brush Removal 205.18 N/A 106.02 99.16 acres
Total 1,362.18 0 1,263.02 99.16 acres

People Participating in Activity
Constituent Type Primary Service Type Total 2024 2023 2022 Units
General Public Workshops 21 21 N/A N/A number
Agricultural Community Fire Safe/Firewise 9 N/A 5 4 number
Landowners Fire Safe/Firewise 29 N/A 21 8 number
Total 59 21 26 12 number

No accomplishments to report for:
Year(s): 2021
Explanation: During 2021 an application was created for the public to apply and projects were selected, but no projects began implementation until 2022.

Financials

Budget

$1,015,508.06
$1,015,508.06
$0.00
$0.00
Total
Landowner Cost Share (Private) $67,395.06 $0.00 $67,395.06
Match Funding (AmeriCorps ) $58,000.00 $0.00 $58,000.00
Vegetation Management Project Grant (SONCO) $890,113.00 $0.00 $890,113.00
Total $1,015,508.06 $0.00 $1,015,508.06
Comment: Phase I of LandSmart Grazing (2021-2022) had a budget of $224,600 between the SCAPOSD grant and landowner cost share ($20,000). For LandSmart Grazing Phase II (2022-2023), the project has been continued with a new grant as well as continued landowner cost share ($30,000), and match funds from AmeriCorps fellows ($30,000) for a budget of $415,513. For LandSmart Grazing Phase III (2023-2024), the project is continued with a new grant and continued landowner cost share.

Reported Expenditures

2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Total
Grant (SCAPOSD) $56,782.00 $411,670.00 $101,546.00 $20,985.50 $0.00 $590,983.50
Landowner Cost Share (Private) $10,000.00 $5,000.00 $23,251.37 $82,052.57 $0.00 $120,303.94
Grand Total $66,782.00 $416,670.00 $124,797.37 $103,038.07 $0.00 $711,287.44

Note: Expenditures reflect implementation of Phase I and updates for Phase II, and final numbers for Phase III. Phase V will be added once implementation starts.

Project Themes

Project Themes

Grazing will add a cost effective and needed tool to manage vegetation to reduce fire risks. Grazing will improve biodiversity and manage vegetation in a more carbon beneficial manner. The program implements projects to increase resilience to climate change impacts using nature-based solutions and other multi-benefit strategies. This project also continues to serve previously burned properties for invasive weed removal and fuel load reduction in preparation for future post-fire recovery activities.
The devastating wildfires of the October 2017 forever changed communities in Sonoma County, and it highlighted the necessity for fire prevention and preparedness. And then again in 2019, many communities within the County were evacuated during the Kinkade Fire. Strong offshore winds made the likelihood of fire spread from eastern Sonoma County to western Sonoma County high. We need to support communities or individuals either start their own grazing or work in community to share the responsibilities of grazing for vegetation management.
Our ecosystems have adapted to fire over tens of thousands of years, yet for over a century we have aimed to keep fires out of our landscapes & suppress them when they occur. While this has worked much of the time, it has contributed to an accumulation of available fuel, on the landscape. As a result, the small subset of fires that inevitably cannot be immediately suppressed become dramatic & catastrophic conflagrations burning with behavior and effects outside the natural range of variation. Prescribed herbivory will only remove one- and ten-hour fuels.
Prescribed herbivory will only remove one- and ten-hour fuels. But animals can be used for vegetation management and are beneficial for: air quality (when compared to the use of prescribed fire), noise, proximity to structures, steep slopes, and areas with noxious weeds. Grazing reduces flame length and fire intensity, and can therefore shift grasses from a highly flammable and effective fire spreader into a natural fire barrier. Maintaining flame lengths below four feet in grasslands also allows firefighters to manage fires without the use of heavy equipment.

Project Details

Attachments

EQIP Conservation Practices for Grazing
Uploaded On
3/17/2025
File Type
PDF
Description
Environmental Quality Incentives Program handout with information on practices recognized by NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Services).
Private Landowners FAQ
Uploaded On
3/17/2025
File Type
PDF
Description
Private landowner resource for grazing on their land with frequently asked questions.
Case Study on Collaborative Grazing
Uploaded On
3/17/2025
File Type
PDF
Description
Case Study conducted by UCCE on Collaborative Grazing in Sonoma County.

No attachments

Notes

No Notes entered.

External Links

  • Gold Ridge RCD Youtube Channel
  • Informational Webinar on Funding Opportunity
  • LandSmart Grazing
  • Medium Article
  • Sarah Keiser of Wild Oat Hollow on Community Grazing Cooperatives
  • Sonoma RCD's LandSmart Grazing

Photos

Photos

  •  

    Before and After - Example 2
(Timing: After) (~387 KB)
Credit: Kari Wester

    Before and After - Example 2
    (Timing: After) (~387 KB)
  •  

    Before and After - Example 3
(Timing: After) (~348 KB)
Credit: Kari Wester

    Before and After - Example 3
    (Timing: After) (~348 KB)
  •  

    Before and After Grazing Photos
(Timing: After) (~191 KB)
Credit: Sophia Pruden

    Before and After Grazing Photos
    (Timing: After) (~191 KB)
  •  

    Before and After Grazing Photos
(Timing: After) (~194 KB)
Credit: Sophia Pruden

    Before and After Grazing Photos
    (Timing: After) (~194 KB)
  •  

    Before and After Grazing Photos
(Timing: After) (~199 KB)
Credit: Sophia Pruden

    Before and After Grazing Photos
    (Timing: After) (~199 KB)
  •  

    Before and After Grazing Photos
(Timing: After) (~206 KB)
Credit: Sophia Pruden

    Before and After Grazing Photos
    (Timing: After) (~206 KB)
  •  

    Before and After Grazing Photos
(Timing: After) (~207 KB)
Credit: Sophia Pruden

    Before and After Grazing Photos
    (Timing: After) (~207 KB)
  •  

    Before and After Grazing Photos
(Timing: After) (~221 KB)
Credit: Sophia Pruden

    Before and After Grazing Photos
    (Timing: After) (~221 KB)
  •  

    Before and After Grazing Photos
(Timing: After) (~253 KB)
Credit: Sophia Pruden

    Before and After Grazing Photos
    (Timing: After) (~253 KB)
  •  

    Before and After Photos - Example 1
(Timing: After) (~356 KB)
Credit: Kari Wester

    Before and After Photos - Example 1
    (Timing: After) (~356 KB)
  •  

    Getting ready for the sheep to arrive
(Timing: During) (~5,119 KB)
Credit: Brock Dolman

    Getting ready for the sheep to arrive
    (Timing: During) (~5,119 KB)
  •  

    Goats and sheep at Ya Ka Ama
(Timing: During) (~14,772 KB)
Credit: WJH

    Goats and sheep at Ya Ka Ama
    (Timing: During) (~14,772 KB)
  •  

    Sheep at the OAEC
(Timing: During) (~3,481 KB)
Credit: Brock Dolman

    Sheep at the OAEC
    (Timing: During) (~3,481 KB)

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Copyright (C) 2025 Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and ESA | Code last updated (compiled) at 2025-06-23 17:26:04.