Early in 2019, Sandia Heights Homeowners Association approved a 3 acre test plot for goat mitigation in the Domingo Baca arroyo area of Sandia Heights.
Sandia Heights has two large arroyos running through the community that are filled with chamisa, cholla and some grasses and is extremely fragile. These arroyos can easily act as chimneys for fires started at the bottom of the community. They are also an important water channel for downstream users. Poisoning the plants, having machinery go in, or even handcrews trimming and removing some vegetation in these areas is not possible due to their sensitive nature. While at a community meeting, we suggested the use of goats to mitigate these arroyos and a homeowners association member ran with the idea, convincing the board to try a test plot in February 2019. For 3 days 60 goats and sheep from Horned Locust Remediation came out and went to work munching down and creating horizontal space between plants. The effects are noticable and a great benefit to the community. Several homeowners have hired the goats to come onto their private property within the community since the test and we're currently working on a plan to bring the goats back on a regular basis.
