LAGUNA BEACH : Goats to Again Munch Away Canyon Brush

The city will use goats once again to clear more than 1,300 acres of dry canyon brush as part of an ongoing fire-prevention plan supported by $396,000 in federal funds.

The City Council agreed Tuesday to pay EZ Bar Ranch of Aliso Viejo $400 per acre to use goats and hand crews to clear brush from canyons and from a fuel break at the edge of the city.

“The motion carries unanimously and the goats will continue to munch away,” Mayor Kathleen Blackburn said.

The plan’s goal is to make the city less susceptible to another firestorm such as the one that swept through it 20 months ago, destroying or damaging more than 450 homes and charring more than 14,000 acres.

Laguna Beach has used goats to clear brush for the past several years, most recently under a different contract in Rim Rock Canyon. In January, the city finished clearing a 10-mile fire break along the length of the city, adjacent to open spaces.

The city received the $396,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency last month for its fire prevention programs. Brush will be cleared through the 1997 fire season under the city’s Vegetation Management Program.

City Manager Kenneth C. Frank has called fire improvements “probably the No. 1 public safety priority.”