At this year’s Earth Day celebration in Pasadena on Saturday, adults and kids will get lessons for making compost, conserving water and power and recycling — all traditional ways for greening Planet Earth.
Meanwhile, down in the lower Arroyo Seco, a protected, natural stream and green land break in this nearly built-out city, there will be 600 goats eating tall, fire-prone grasses that will fill their empty stomachs. It’s this kind of fire threat mitigation, all done without power tools, tractors or herbicides, that swells the chest of the goats’ co-owner.
“It is very environmentally friendly to use goats versus any other fire mitigation method,” said Paul Abess, one of the owners of Capra Environmental Services. “This is au naturale.” Capra is the Italian word for goat.
“We are in the public interest. We are trying to take care of the environment,” Abess added. “Plus, people love seeing the animals; they like the environmentally friendly aspects of it.”
Capra’s brush-munching goats will be viewed from afar during Pasadena’s Earth Day event on Saturday, April 18, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 360 N. Arroyo Blvd., adjacent to the Aquatic Center. Families can bring home compost for gardens, get acquainted with the city’s climate action plan, learn storm-water management techniques, create art with help from Remainders Creative Reuse or find out about exploring nature from Outward Bound Adventures.
But the stars of the day will be the 600 full-sized, Boer-Spanish mix goats released into the lower Arroyo for targeted grazing. These goats are castrated male goats, known as wethered goats, Abess explained. A wethered goat is more gentle and do not act aggressively, making them low maintenance. They have large stomachs and intestinal fortitude to eat just about any plant all day long.
“They have an endless appetite and will quickly devour wildfire fuel such as tall weeds, bushes and low-hanging tree leaves, which makes them an ideal and environmentally friendly alternative to heavy equipment and herbicides,” explained Patty Mundo, fire environmental safety specialist for the Glendale Fire Department, where grazing goats cut down on fire risks at Glendale’s Verdugo Park in February.
Using goats to eat up grasses and reduce wildfire risk is rapidly becoming more popular throughout California, said Abess. He said the practice has been used more in Northern California. But recent wildfires in Southern California, namely the devastating Eaton and Palisades wildfires of January 2025, have his Roseville-based business, with herds of goats in tow, as well as other goat-brush-eating businesses making the trek south for more gigs.
For example, more than 500 goats were eating up brush at the Sepulveda Basin in the San Fernando Valley in March, a project sponsored by the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society. Audubon said the project, run by Fire Grazers Inc., will help the area reduce the frequency of brush fires. The latest one was the Burbank fire in August 2024, which blackened 75 acres of almost entirely invasive, nonnative plants.
From March 25 and continuing through Friday, April 17, Capra Environmental Service’s goats have been working 54 acres at Towsley Canyon Park in Santa Clarita for fire prevention. The city hired the firm to reduce brush in the popular park, which is located just off The Old Road, Abess said.
In Pasadena, these goats will then work about 100 acres starting April 18 for six to eight weeks, the city reported. The cost is $85,000, said Daniel Rossman, executive director of the One Arroyo Foundation. The nonprofit is funding the effort, which could be the first time goats are used for brush clearance in the Arroyo Seco, he said.
“It is so much better than to weedwhack them,” he said, adding that mechanical devices often spread the seeds, which then grow up anew next year.
“Goats digest the seeds as well,” he explained, singling out their appetite for wild mustard, an invasive plant that has grown up in the Arroyo after rains in late December and early January. “The goats that are coming will eat those invasives and seeds don’t survive. And the goats return nutrients to the soil — my euphemism for poop,” he said on Wednesday, April 15.
Rossman said goats can climb the steeper slopes of the Arroyo and cover out-of-reach places that get left out when using workers and tractors to clear brush.
Wildfire prevention is a key goal, said the city in a prepared statement.
“In early 2025, the devastating Eaton Fire showed the urgent need for proactive fire prevention strategies across the region. The Arroyo Seco, a vital natural corridor that connects communities from Hahamongna Watershed Park to South Pasadena, is particularly vulnerable due to overgrowth and fire-prone vegetation,” said the city.
“The channel creates a wind tunnel. So, there is a chance for fire if we are not managing this properly. Plus, there are a large number of homes nearby, so neighbors are interested in managing this threat,” Rossman said.
The goats have a two-fold purpose: clear brush and keep the Arroyo healthy, so that native plants can grow back strong, he said.
“We need to manage the landscape so people and nature can thrive, together,” Rossman said. “By having this nearby place so people can connect with nature. And with climate change, this threat will increase if we are not smart about it.”
To donate to One Arroyo, and to give to the goat-grazing project in the Arroyo Seco, go to: https://www.onearroyo.org/,