By Jim Shivers
District 5 Public Information Officer
Rather than resort to herbicides, Caltrans has employed goats on weed-control patrol along State Route 1 north of Piedras Blancas Lighthouse.
Caltrans is using goats to help controls weeds within a 20-acre site adjacent to Highway 1 just north of the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse in northern San Luis Obispo County.
Instead of relying on herbicides, Caltrans is taking a more sustainable approach to revitalizing the native coastal prairie adjacent to the recent highway realignment project that was completed in 2017.
On July 15, two double-decker trucks unloaded about 300 animals to help remove invasive non-native weeds such as bur clover, mustard and thistle. The animals are confined to selected grazing areas by temporary fencing, which is moved every few days.
These goats will graze at a rate of approximately one acre per day, for the next three weeks.
This project will also help to reduce the use of herbicides.
“I am proud that our Landscape Architecture group is committed to designing sustainable and innovative solutions through collaborative teamwork.” said Caltrans District 5 Landscape Architect Katherine Brown, who is overseeing this project as part of an intensive habitat restoration project.
The goats are managed by shepherds from Living Systems Land Management, a subcontractor of the Caltrans prime contractor, Empire Landscaping Inc. of Davis.
District 11 has also tapped into the weed-reduction power of goats. In early 2017 the San Diego-based district produced a Caltrans News Flash (No. 112) that showed goats at work in an underpass of Interstate 8 in Alpine.