Dr. Suzy Worcester and John Inman, a graduate student in CSU Monterey Bay’s applied marine and watershed science program, have been working with Bruce Delgado at the Bureau of Land Management to manage 2,500 acres of coastal grasslands at Fort Ord National Monument.

Coastal grasslands are relatively rare because of extensive human development along California's coastline. The national monument's grasslands are home to purple needle grass – California's state grass – and beautiful blooms of spring wildflowers such as sky lupine.

When Fort Ord was a military reservation, the grasslands were maintained using fire and grazing. However, since the base closed in the early 1990s, coyote brush has slowly encroached into the grasslands. Through ecological succession, these coastal grasslands are being converted into coastal scrub. The Bureau of Land Managment has brought in sheep to graze the grasslands; however, the coyote brush continues to spread. Delgado believes that goats might be another way to remove the coyote brush and manage the grasslands. Dr. Worcester, Inman and Delgado have been working together to design an experiment to test whether goat grazing is an effective way to reduce coyote brush cover as well as to increase native grassland species.

In an initial experiment last January, 1,400 goats ate the coyote brush down to bare sticks in a 400-acre area. With the help of BLM staff and volunteers, the investigators set up paired grazed and control plots in dense stands of coyote brush throughout the area before grazing started. Since coyote brush has the ability to re-sprout, the plan is to continue to graze the experimental plots annually until the coyote brush is killed.

The initial response was promising and the experiment will be expanded substantially this year. It will be several years before the results are known.

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*Reprinted from the newsletter of CSU Monterey Bay’s Watershed Institute. Used by permission. Top photo: Goats grazing on BLM land Bottom photo: Coyote brush*