(CLAIR | Simi Valley, CA) — About 450 goats spent last week eating fire fuel off the hillsides of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, and most of Simi Valley missed it.
The Ventura County Goat Brigade returned to the library for its regular brush-clearing run. The herd worked dense vegetation that could carry a wildfire toward one of the city's most visited landmarks. Crews moved the goats through fenced sections along the slopes, rotating them onto new patches each day.
These are not ordinary goats. The brigade is trained for fire prevention, and the herd clears up to an acre of brush a day. That pace lets the library build natural firebreaks around the complex without heavy equipment and without chemical defoliants on the hillside.
A library spokesperson said the brigade plays a role no machine can match. The goats eat through fuel that crews would otherwise cut by hand, and they reach terrain equipment cannot.
The Reagan Library sits on a hilltop above Presidential Drive. It holds presidential records, personal effects of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, and the Air Force One pavilion. The risk to that collection became real during the Easy Fire in October 2019, when flames came close enough to threaten the grounds. Library officials credited an earlier visit from the goats that year with helping spare the complex from worse damage.
A library spokesperson said the goats arrived months before the Easy Fire and created a natural firebreak around the buildings. The appetite for brush is a core part of the library's fire prevention strategy, not a novelty for visitors.
Guests who toured the library last week got a side attraction with their visit. Families watched the goats work the slopes. Visitors stopped along the fence lines to take photos. One said it was not every day that goats played a real role in protecting history.
The brigade has moved on to its next assignment. For several days, drivers on the roads around the library could see the herd at work. The goats served as a visible reminder that vegetation around homes carries the same risk as vegetation around landmarks, and that clearing it before fire season is the difference between a close call and a loss.
The library plans to bring the goats back. Officials said the program will continue as long as the hillsides keep growing brush, which is to say, indefinitely. For Simi Valley, that means the goats will return, the cameras will come out, and the hill above Presidential Drive will keep getting a little safer one bite at a time.
