Pyrograzing turns ordinary livestock into fire prevention heroes, so why isn’t it used on public lands more often?

Federal land managers, including the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, are pushing to expand 'targeted grazing' — using cattle, goats and sheep to chew down flammable brush — under the 2025 Grazing Action Plan. Researchers surveying over 1,000 Forest Service staff found most consider the practice moderately to extremely effective where it has been tried, and about a quarter of relevant ranger districts have used it in some form.

But the survey also found only 5% of staff said they were very or extremely likely to actually use targeted grazing in the next few years, citing lack of monitoring, logistical costs for ranchers, and doubts about whether the agency would ever pay for it. Environmental groups have separately sued over the plan, arguing it endangers wildlife and mainly serves as pretext to open more public land to ranching.

The researchers, who study the practice themselves, still see promise in specific cases, like Idaho trials where sheep cut invasive grass cover by over 20% in some years, though timing problems undercut it in others.

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