Community Corner

Hungry Goats Invade Downtown Lemon Grove

The city's urban weed abatement project will be featured in an upcoming segment on 'The Early Show.'

They’re baa-ack, and they’ve brought their unstoppable appetite.

The city’s hardest-working hired hooves are on the job Tuesday eating their way through weeds, vines and brush in a lot across from the Lemon Grove Depot. And from the looks of things, they are some mighty happy goats.

Dozens of residents showed up to watch as the hungry herd from Environmental Land Management was unloaded in an overgrown lot downtown, the site of the proposed Main Street Promenade. The urban weed abatement project has gained the attention of a national morning news show, with a producer and cameraman from The Early Show on hand interviewing onlookers and taping a segment for an upcoming broadcast. 

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While it’s Lemon Grove’s first time using goats to clear fire-hazard areas, the environmentally friendly strategy isn’t new. Bigger cities, like Los Angeles, use the green solution to clear land, too.

“We’ve done the story before, but it’s always good—especially in fire season,” said Bob Kozberg, a producer with The Early Show. “You can’t beat the reaction of kids with the goats.”

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City officials are enthused with the job the goats have done.

“It’s a win-win situation,” said Tim Smith, deputy chief of the Lemon Grove Fire Department. “It’s cost effective and environmentally friendly.”

Mayor Mary Sessom is pleased with the project’s success.

“There’s no doubt they do the job,” she said. “They don’t call in sick, they don’t say it’s too hot—they get out and do the job.”

Last month, Lemon Grove and Heartland Fire & Rescue contracted with Environmental Land Management to clear two abandoned parcels off Lawton Drive. The city has had to clear the open space annually over the course of several years, and has placed liens on the property in an effort to recover code enforcement fines, fees and forced abatement costs needed to remove fire and safety hazards—to no avail.

The goats are touted as a natural, environmentally safe method of clearing away dangerous overgrowth in fire-sensitive areas. Heartland Fire & Rescue credits the defensible space created by the herd to having recently saved several homes from a brush fire in El Cajon. Quick action by firefighters and the goat-cleared area kept the fire small, burning just a half-acre behind homes on Hacienda Drive, according the Heartland Fire & Rescue.

Kozberg said the segment could air as soon as Wednesday on the CBS news and talk show, but more likely on Thursday. Locally, The Early Show is seen from 7 to 9 a.m. on Channel 8.


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