If you’ve driven through Pope Valley lately, you may have noticed a remarkable scene: 1,500 sheep grazing across the rolling hills of our 730-acre Wantrup Preserve. While it’s a picturesque sight, this is more than just pastoral beauty; it’s purposeful conservation in motion.
At the Land Trust, we aim to steward land with innovative, nature-based solutions grounded in science. Our current grazing project at Wantrup is a powerful example: we use targeted sheep grazing to reduce wildfire risk and restore native habitat. And it’s working.
Why Sheep? Why Now?
As wildfire seasons grow longer and more intense across California, we are stepping up with adaptive tools to build more resilient landscapes. One of the most effective? Grazing.
Through our partnership with Kaos Sheep, 1,500 sheep are helping us manage fast-growing vegetation that can become dangerous fuel during fire season. Consuming invasive grasses and dry brush significantly lowers the likelihood and intensity of wildfires in this ecologically sensitive area.
This approach isn’t new to us. Since 2017, the Land Trust has been using grazing to remove the heavy buildup of weed thatch from non-native annual plant dry matter, the kind of fine fuels that can quickly carry a wildfire across the land. Our grazing is in full swing this year, building on years of successful outcomes.
Measurable Results: Fire Risk Reduction and Native Recovery
We’ve seen the results firsthand—not just in visual changes, but in complex data.
Our Stewardship Team previously established paired grazed and ungrazed vegetation plots across the preserve to monitor the project’s impacts over time. The findings are compelling: grazed areas consistently show substantially higher native species richness and abundance, while invasive species dominate the ungrazed plots and lead to the accumulation of hazardous fuel loads.
And the grazing doesn’t just improve plant diversity, it provides real, on-the-ground protection from wildfire. In 2020, flames advanced from a neighboring property toward this preserve during the LNU Lightning Complex fire but stopped when they reached the previously grazed area. With no fuel left to burn, the fire stalled. That’s success you can see.
Beyond Fire Safety: A Return to Ecological Balance
Our mission goes beyond wildfire risk reduction. We’re also working to restore the native Valley Oak (Quercus lobata ) woodlands and grasslands that once dominated this region. Non-native annual grasses and thistles can outcompete native species like purple needlegrass (Nassella pulchra)—a keystone plant in California’s grassland ecology. And Valley Oaks have seen the most significant decline of all native oak species. On this same preserve, we have been planting new Valley Oaks – see photo below– over 200 so far.
Grazing at many sites can be a regenerative approach. As sheep graze down invasive competitors, they open space and light for native plants buried in the seed bank within the soil to germinate and grow. It’s restoration that respects the natural resilience of the land.
Grazing with Intention
This isn’t free-range grazing, it’s managed with precision. Temporary fencing and careful monitoring guide the sheep across the preserve in rotating patterns, giving sensitive areas time to recover and ensuring ecological benefits are maximized. This strategy aligns with our long-term vision of climate-smart land stewardship.
We’ve seen how returning grazing animals to the land can breathe life back into ecosystems while protecting nearby communities. It’s innovative conservation, rooted in care, and backed by science.
A Model for Conservation in a Changing Climate
Wantrup Preserve, protected by the Land Trust since 1979, is a living laboratory for climate adaptation and ecological resilience. What we’re learning here doesn’t just benefit this one preserve; it’s informing broader regional efforts.
As we continue this work, we’re committed to sharing our findings with other conservation organizations, public agencies, and our community. The goal: to help shape a more fire-adapted, biodiverse, and resilient future for Napa County.
Want to see the sheep in action? Follow us on Instagram @napalandtrust and check out our videos at https://napalandtrust.org/about-us/video/ or sign up for our newsletter to hear about our ongoing projects and updates.
