Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, officials are employing a new fire-protection strategy – goats.
Two hundred hungry goats were released Friday over 22 acres of Tubbs Hill, the popular park that overlooks Lake Coeur d’Alene.
![Two hundred goats are doing their part to protect the Lake City’s crown jewel Tubbs Hill from catastrophic wildfire by feasting on so-called ladder fuels that accelerate flames when a fire breaks out. Photo: City of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho](https://www.claimsjournal.com/app/uploads/2014/05/goats-300x225.jpg)
They chewed through shrubbery and mowed down other fuels that could help a fire spread.
Coeur d’Alene Fire Department Deputy Chief Glenn Lauper says it takes fire officials 20 minutes to reach a fire on Tubbs Hill’s south side. If a fire is starved of fuels, it may not spread so quickly.
Urban forestry coordinator Katie Kosanke tells the Coeur d’Alene Press a federal grant is paying for the project.
She says the goats cost $500 an acre compared to up to $1,500 for a mechanical hand crew, so city officials thought, “Why not give it a try?”
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