Hawaiian Electric tests goat grazing as vegetation management option for landowners

As part of its ongoing wildfire safety strategy, Hawaiian Electric completed a successful demonstration on Maui using livestock as another vegetation management option for landowners and communities. The company recently partnered with Surfing Goat Dairy who works with property owners to determine if a site is suitable for the animals to help with vegetation control along with setting up and monitoring the work.

In May, 15 goats were set up in within a fenced 1-acre area of Upcountry Maui and cleared the vegetation within eight days.

“If the grass is just weed wacked and dropped on the ground, it just dries up and the fuel hasn’t been removed,” said Jay Garnett, owner of Maui Surfing Goat Dairy. “Whereas the goats, not only are we taking that fuel and eliminating it, as they consume it, in their droppings – it re-fertilizes the land.”

The new partnership demonstrates the different vegetation management options available to landowners, stakeholders and community organizations as part of Hawaiian Electric’s Wildfire Safety Strategy, filed with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for review and acceptance in January. The company’s strategy calls also for deploying new technology, fortifying infrastructure, minimizing fire hazards and expanding community partnerships to significantly reduce the risk of a wildfire started by utility equipment.

“This goat grazing pilot was a big success in multiple ways,” said Randall Shiro, Hawaiian Electric’s director of transmission and distribution resiliency program. “It shows that we have the local services available, and not only does it reduce fire risk it helps build a sustainable local workforce. We’re hoping with this demonstration other community groups, landowners can see this success and implement this and other methods to help the State reduce fire risk.”

The 3-year safety blueprint is an expansion of a plan first created by Hawaiian Electric in 2019 and updated in 2023 in the months after the August 2023 windstorm and wildfires on Maui. The enhanced plan underscores the recent emergence of extreme weather events as requiring a coordinated effort by many organizations and supportive public policy to keep communities safe.