Goats May Graze on Acalanes Ridge

Corrected per Nancy Dawson Dollard's comment. 9:45 a.m. July 2

The city of Walnut Creek is negotiating with a goat company to bring the barnyard, organic chewing machines to a part of Acalanes Ridge to keep the brush down.

It's a return of the goats in the section where they grazed a year ago, said Nancy Dawson Dollard, supervising ranger for Walnut Creek's Open Space Division. The 7-acre parcel is in the northern section of Acalanes Ridge, below the Summit Ridge development that is reached from Pleasant Hill Road via Green Valley Drive.

It's an area for caution with homes above the grassland parcel. "Grassland fires do travel uphill," said Dollard.

Neighbors are concerned about the grass and fire danger being high, according to a feature story this week in the Contra Costa Times. Residents are concerned that the city restricting cattle grazing was prohibited in some areas; the cattle had grazed and kept grass short.

Earlier in the spring there was a brush fire at the south end of Acalanes Ridge, Dollard noted, and last July 4 a small fire caused by fireworks in a backyard that threatened but did not spread to the Acalanes Ridge open space.