the county. The individual grazing coops are set up according to the needs of each neighborhood, their landscape and what their goals are. “Some communities share a flock,” she says. “Some are nestled next to a rancher who brings the animals through that community in a shared relationship. Some of them come together and hire a contract grazer annually.” The more acreage you have the less everybody pays per acre with the added benefit of the whole community becoming fire resilient. Keiser’s work with the coops is funded by the Globetrotters Foundation. She works as a consultant with the Sonoma Resource Conservation District, to help with its landmark grazing projects and also advises the City of Petaluma on grazing. “The City of Petaluma is really spearheading a new way forward for municipalities to utilize grazing in their vegetation management and to build up their native seed banks,” Keiser says. “They’re looking at a 5- to 10-year plan of ecological transformation through grazing to bring the landscape back to a healthy-fire ecosystem and to increase carbon sequestration through sophisticated grazing methods.” Keiser points out that grazing is an age-old part of balanced ecosystems. “Having animals intimately integrated into a system with growing vegetation is historically what’s always happened on this planet,” she says. “Our plants have evolved over millennia with the impact of Neighbors move sheep from one parcel of land to the next in the Hunter Grazing Coop. Grazing cooperatives have helped neighbors get to know one another better as they bond over the many benefits and fun of their grazing sheep. [Photo courtesy Hunter Grazing Coop]
Wild Oat Hollow and community grazing coops Sarah Keiser of Wild Oat Hollow in Penngrove does land stewardship consulting and has been helping build community grazing cooperatives throughout Sonoma County. She’s helping communities become more fire resilient and connected as their land grows healthier. Keiser started with her own herd when she realized that some of her neighbors’ parcels looked like they were becoming overgrown. She got to know those neighbors and says she simply walked her sheep down the road to their fields and let them graze. That led to the start of the Penngrove Grazing Cooperative. “That’s in my neighborhood with my sheep,” Keiser says. “There’s no economic give or take between any of us. We just share the sheep. Whoever has them on their plate gives them water and keeps an eye on them and enjoys them. They move around and do vegetation management and ecosystem services. We’re really watching the landscape change.” The benefits of the grazing coops go far beyond the landscape—and Keiser first witnessed that in her own neighborhood. “Our community is taking care of each other, we know each other better,” she says. “Everybody loves the sheep. They just kind of are that global system of community connection, community resiliency and ecosystem services that move around the community.” Keiser has helped establish 15 grazing cooperatives throughout Napa Pasture Protein sheep graze a hillside, reducing fire fuels while helping create healthier soil and give drought tolerant native plants a chance to thrive. [Courtesy Cori Carlson]
40 NorthBaybiz
July 2024
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