FRESNO, Calif. – Rebecca Ozeran walks through a field of dry grass at an area known as Jensen River Ranch, just outside Fresno’s Woodward Park.
The grass crunches under each step, and stretches out in acres of golden color. At first glance, this grass looks rooted to the landscape. But Ozeran says it doesn’t belong here.
“Although they are the dominant species here, it’s because they’ve taken over from native species,” she says of this grass, and other plants that fill this area.
In the distance, Ozeran spots a plant known as the Yellow Starthistle. Those are known for their bright yellow flowers.
Ozeran says the plant is also a good pollinator, and honeybees like them. But the honeybees, like the starthistle plant, are also not a native species. The starthistle, in fact, is dangerous to horses.
“It actually gives them a neurological disorder that makes them seek it out more and more until they can no longer chew and swallow, and it can be fatal,” Ozeran says.
Before any of the cities, cars and highways that came to dominate California’s landscape, the vast open land was home to many animals, plants and natural ecosystems. Today, much of the geography has been engineered for human development — and with it a host of non-native species and insects like those currently covering Jensen River Ranch.
Ozeran says Fresno County, like much of the state, is highly invaded by non-native species that are choking natural landscapes.
This summer, she’s been working with members of the Sierra Resource Conservation District on a solution.
Goats, sheep step in
For several weeks, roughly 400 goats and sheep have been eating away much of the grasses that exist on the ranch – about 200 acres.
Along with getting rid of non-native plants, the goats and sheep are also lowering dry grass that can turn into wildfire fuel.
Goats and sheep are resistant to the toxic non-native plants, unlike horses. When they’re done eating through the grass and plants, members of the Sierra Resource Conservation District will invite the public to plant native trees and shrubs that do belong on the land – plants such as willows, cottonwoods and oaks.
One recent day, the goats helped show a contrast, and a sign of their progress: a flattened area that had been mostly eaten away to one side, and a “jungle” to the other.
Ozeran says the goats are helping reveal the true terrain.
“You can see the contours of the land. There’s still some standing grass, but that’s a good thing. We don’t want to completely turn this into a barren dirtscape. That would be just as harmful to it as leaving it alone,” Ozeran says.
The sheep come from Fowler. Kaleb Thomasis the shepherd who runs the company Ag Land Innovation. He says this is the first time his goats have been used for this kind of project, but they know just what to do.
Thomas says the goats are strategically moved across the land so they can apply just enough pressure to the soil, and help the native habitat breathe from under the invasive grasses.
“The tighter pens that you make, the more they’re going to put an impact on that ground,” Thomas says.
This land sits along the San Joaquin River. It’s known as a riparian habitat, because it’s near a waterway. Because this type of area deals with land and water, small changes to the ecosystems can cause major damage, according to experts.
Tanner Michaelson, a manager with the conservation district, says the San Joaquin River – the second longest river in California – is among the most endangered because of climate and development that has steered natural resources away from it.
Over time, that has left the surrounding habitat prone to species invasion.
Habitat invasion is a long-term problem
Despite the habitat loss, there are still signs of the former ecosystem. That includes trees that produce elderberries.
“Our Native American communities in this area used to use [the elderberries] for different medicinal purposes,” he says as he pulls them off the tree to feed the goats on a recent day.
Millions of acres in California are covered with grasses, insects and some animals that have slowly reshaped the land – causing harm to soil and reducing available food to native wildlife.
And this disruption is not new. Researchers estimate it’s been happening since at least the 1700s, initially through European settlement but eventually a reality of modern global trade.
Invaded habitats present a costly problem for the state, which spends billions each year fighting back non-native species through different methods. California is also actively fighting an invasion of golden mussels – an Asian species – that are clogging waterways in the state.
When it comes to fighting invasive species on land, using goats and sheep to graze an invaded area is not a silver bullet, but conservation groups say it’s one very effective tool out of many.
Michaelson says the riparian habitat at Jensen River Ranch will not automatically go back to its original form. There’s simply been too many changes in the climate, and more are expected.
“It’s going to be hotter, we know there’s going to be less water availability, and so we may not be able to plant the same plants that were there before,” he says.
Plus, the river doesn’t flow as big as it used to, he says, depriving the habitat of natural resources.
Reconnecting land, people
Michaelson says, however, that restoring the land along the San Joaquin River could help native wildlife return where it may otherwise have been absent – or lost forever.
He says the conservation efforts underway will hopefully reconnect the land back to itself, but also reconnect people to the natural landscape, too.
Michaelson says youth who go on trips to conservation areas with his nonprofit are asked what “nature” means to them. The students often cite “almonds, pistachios, and citrus.”
But those crops are not native to the region, either.
Michaelson says that’s one of the problems of natural or man-made habitat changes – people lose a sense of what the land is made for.
Michaelson says that’s a problem for people but also for the wildlife.
Across the state, land development has cut off natural food paths for animals such as deer and others.
“Between here and the dam, they’re going to have to go through someone’s back yard and go through a gravel mine and go through a bunch of other different types of farms and agricultural purposes,” Michaelson says. “So how can we try to create corridors for them to have access to the spaces that they need to go?”
Conservation groups know it’s nearly impossible to imagine what much of the land we see today used to look like – or to get it to look like it did hundreds of years ago.
But based on studies and surveys, the groups are able to get as close to the natural habitat as possible.
Jessie Kanter, Agriculture and Rangeland Program Manager with the Sierra Resource Conservation District, says the current project along Jensen River Ranch is about countering that loss and reintroducing nature back to itself.
Goats and sheep are one step to get there. But people also play a role.
Starting in September, on the first Saturday of each month, the public will be invited to plant native vegetation and learn more about conservation. Kanter says this process gives people a sense they can do something about the loss of habitats.
“If people feel like they can see what’s happening and be so close to it, maybe they’ll feel like they also have a role in protecting it,” Kanter says.
