6-27 FB Goat Firefighters

 Tim Lindquest is a conundrum. And what that means is, I can’t figure out whether he is a goat herder or a firefighter? Actually the answer is both as I found him out in the foothills of Boise with 700 goats feasting on a lot of cheat grass and other plants that fuel fires. Listen to him.  “We are using the goats today for weed and brush control to reduce the fire load. The goats are turned into this field and they will eat it down, reduce the fire load and we will move them to the next spot. There is a very heavy fuel load with the cheat grass and the brush  and everything else so I would say that the conditions are real right for a fire Anywhere around these foothills. the goats like broadleaf plants and weeds are their favorite thing. What we are trying to accomplish here is we will graze the goats for a set period of time depending on the acreage. We aren’t going to take out all of the fuel but if the fire was to come up this hill it will burn slow instead of ripping up the hill. That is what we are trying to accomplish.”