In grasslands across the American West, four-legged fire prevention crews are busy at work, helping keep wildfire risk under control. These cattle, goats and sheep stomp down tall grasses as they munch their way through plants that could otherwise burn, lowering the risk of catastrophic fires in the process.

When livestock are intentionally used for wildfire control like this, the practice is known as targeted grazing. And it’s gaining attention as severe wildfire seasons push firefighters and public land budgets to the brink.

Strategically removing trees, shrubs and grasses can help alter the trajectory of future wildfires, but it is complex and expensive work that often involves intentional burning, herbicides and heavy machinery to thin forests or create fuel breaks.

Livestock can do some of this work instead, simply by grazing in the right places.

Current leaders of the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are pushing for more targeted grazing in National Forests and on other public lands as part of the 2025 Grazing Action Plan and its accompanying directives.

As rangeland scientists who study how to effectively use livestock grazing to manage wildfire fuels and invasive plants, we see potential but also limitations to this strategy.

The possibility of pyrograzing

Targeted pyrograzing can help manage wildfire risk well in certain contexts.

Livestock do not eat or trample large, woody trees, but most wildfires burn in grass and shrublands that livestock can help maintain. Beef cattle, for example, consumed around 600 pounds of........

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