BOULDER, Colo. — In a pilot program to lessen the devastating impact of wildfires and protect residential communities, the City of Boulder is using cattle.
Starting mid-June, around 70 cattle will graze about 35 acres of grassland open space near Wonderland Lake in northern Boulder. It is one layer of the city's wildfire mitigation strategy.
Paul Dennison, senior program manager for Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks Department, describes the project as essential for reducing wildfire risks.
"It’s approximately a 35-acre grazing project designed to protect the residential communities," he said.
Dennison said cattle are effective in keeping grass fuel heights low, which can help minimize flame lengths and the rate of fire spread during a wildfire.
"Treatments on the landscape scale can reduce fire behavior, and that reduces the likelihood of fire growing to uncontrollable sizes or moving with great intensity," Dennison said. "We really want to ensure that fire behavior is as limited as possible, as it makes an impact with communities and gives firefighters the best opportunity to safely and effectively engage in suppression."
However, Dennison said this effort won't completely stop a wildfire but should protect homes and give first responders a fighting chance.
"The city has a variety of programs, and we are coordinating and collaborating to ensure that those programs stack on top of each other to reduce wildfire risk as effectively as we can."
The initiative is particularly motivated by the 2021 Marshall Fire, which devastated nearby areas.
"We don't want another Marshall fire. We also want to give ourselves the best opportunity to suppress fire under slightly less dire conditions," Dennison said.
Ryan Middleton, Boulder’s agricultural program manager, highlighted the ecological benefits of the grazing project. The city will pay two local ranchers to provide and maintain the cattle as they graze on the land.
"Even as we pay them to do this, it's still more cost-effective, and it's more ecologically beneficial than mowing or spraying herbicide," he said.
The cattle will graze in temporary electric fencing enclosures, about five acres per day, allowing for a systematic approach to managing the grassland.
"This is going to be a single spring entry, and we're going to see how durable those effects are," Dennison added.
The team will study how well grass remains within the four-to-six-inch range — a height that is favorable for lowering fire intensity.
As the project unfolds, city officials will work to ensure public safety, with signage warning residents about the presence of cattle and encouraging them to keep pets leashed. They expect the cattle to remain in the area for two weeks.
