NEVADA CITY — With recent fire devastation fresh on the minds of its community, Nevada City is trying to be proactive four legs a time.
“No one is going to save us. FEMA is not coming in, right? The cavalry is not coming in,” said Vacaville’s Vice Mayor Reinette Senum. “It’s us or it’s nobody and this town knows that. We’ve seen the cautionary tale of Paradise. We don’t want that.”
Bringing in goats to eat fire fuels is no secret. In fact, it’s so popular many ranchers with the goats have told Nevada City leaders that they are already booked through the summer.
Vice Mayor Reinette Senum said that’s why they want the goats during the winter.
“Whether you are a homeowner, a renter or a business owner, we are in grave danger,” Senum said. “And as a city we have a responsibility to that and time is of the essence and now is the time.”
Around a month ago, Senum started a GoFundMe page to help pay for ranchers to bring the goats to troubled areas, like Pioneer Park and along Deer Creek.
The crowd-sourced financial drive has been dubbed “Goat Fund me.” As of Sunday night, $13,000 have been donated to what is currently a goal of $30,000.
“$30,000 is just to get us going,” Senum said. “We figured that would be enough time to get the goats going and then once people see that, if we need to, we can always raise more than that. But at the same time, we’ll go out there as a city and apply for grants and get that going.”
The vice mayor says the city is hoping to do a showcase in Pioneer Park at the end of the month to show people what it looks like prior to the goats coming in and what it looks like after they are done in Nevada City.
Nevada City also said that after the goats are done in particular areas they will need hand crews to come through and clear out the rest of the brush.
It’s are hoping some of those crews could be the homeless population or those who are in jail or looking to pay off city fines.