Greetings Santaluz Community!

We are happy to be welcomed back for the 2024 grazing season that started May 23rd off Run of the Knolls. For those of you that are new to us, we are a group of young nomadic shepherds, the Good Shepherds, an unincorporated regenerative land management group that serve for ecological fire abatement and land regeneration. We currently are shepherding 350 goats and sheep who eat the flashy fire fuels and trim back some of the brush management zones for the Santaluz Community. The herd is protected by livestock guardian dogs, shepherded by border collies, and guided by a team of dedicated shepherds and horses servicing the land. Prescribed Herbivory, what we do, is one of five wildfire risk reduction vegetation management practices recognized by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, as critical to addressing the wildfire crisis in the Wild Urban Interface, where you live. When done right, this practice can improve the soil, reduce erosion events and enhance the native ecology while minimizing flashy fuels.

There are many elements that go into this, including a team of dedicated shepherds who are giving months of time living on-site and available 24/7 to tend the live beings and their various needs. Therefore we have become neighbors, we love community and hope to maintain good relations. To be viable and successful in covering the acreage and protecting property we ask for your cooperation.

For homeowners along the brush management zones we will be servicing:

• Although we try to take into account potential temptations to the herd, and will often fence off already fenced in yards, sometimes yards or plants poking through a fence get overlooked as we are going around hundreds of homes. We ask for your help, to make sure your landscaping is cleared from the fence, including trimming over hanging trees up at least 6 feet to avoid the herd eating your plants/trees and pushing against snake fences. If this is not possible let us know by e-mailing us at [email protected] with BACKYARD FENCE as the caption. Be sure to include your address so we can take appropriate precautions.
• Consider reinforcing your snake fencing. Zip ties become brittle in the sun after a short period of time. Metal wires do rust, but usually hold longer. Bolts seem to work best to make sure fences stay in place when the animals are out grazing behind homes. Often times we’ve come across ties that are already broken, making the fence insecure. Your awareness and assistance with having your fence secure is monumental.
• If the herd is eating unwanted plants, have gotten into your yard or there is an emergency concern, please call us. You can also shew them away by clapping loudly and making some noise.
• Requests for us to fix snake fences or eaten plants are understandable, however we have limited capacity to address them. While we are happy to clean up an area where the animals may have gone out of their fence lines, we do not have the capacity to replace damaged property. This makes your preventative and present participation in this project incredibly valuable and appreciated!

For all (including renters, homeowners and your guests):

• Please call us if you see animals outside of the electric netting or if the fence is down
• Please do not touch or tamper with the electric netting. The amperage is low, so it’s not dangerous, but the voltage produces a memorable experience. This is to keep our herd in the right places and help deter would be predators.
• Please stay a distance back if you have a pacemaker, electronic implants, riding an e-bike or with any electronics to keep you and property safe.
• There are places where the fence must cross through trails on the property. Please do not attempt to go over the fence by foot or bike. If you cannot pass, please turn around and take another route.
• Please do not feed any of the animals. Changes to the ruminants’ diets can affect their ability to digest the food and can consequently make them ill. It can also cause them to break through the fence and cause an issue.
• Please avoid bringing your K-9 pets close to the paddocks. We have working dogs that are meant to keep predators away. Domestic dogs are seen as predators, even small ones.
• Our three livestock guardian dogs are Bear and Diamond, who are big, white Great Pyrenees siblings, and Darling (currently off-site), a white and tan, mixed Anatolian shepherd. They may occasionally find their way out of designated paddocks. If you discover one of the dogs outside their area they are generally nice to humans and can be leashed or contained until we are able to retrieve them.
• Please refrain from feeding the dogs treats or giving them water, as this encourages them to adventure out. They are well feed and have plenty of access to water in their paddocks.

Additional Notes:

• Please speak to the HOA Management about additional land clearing on the current site, we cannot answer requests to do so.
• Please respect the efforts and the space of the shepherds. Due to the 24/7 needs that arise from tending to the herd we are camped out nearby on approved sites for the duration of the project. We are doing our best to attend to matters while staying healthy with the elemental exposure and exertion we face every day.
• Please consider the value of having grazing as a critical fire abatement service, we sincerely apologize for any negative impacts you may experience from our presence, and aim to bring more joy and leave the land and community better off.

We are here in hopes that fire crews won’t have to be in the future, and that if they do, they will have a lower flame height to be of less risk to fire fighting crews and a better chance at saving property and lives. We do our best to mitigate any minor issues while striving to reduce loss of property and life from wildfire.

About Prescribed Grazing:

• Around California this abatement technique is being cited as an effort to have homeowner insurance premiums lowered, consider writing to your insurance providers about the prevention methods.
• CalFire, the Board of Forestry, as well as many other relevant organizations have seen the research and implementation of prescribed grazing. California’s government and local leaders have began to promote it as a way to effectively ecologically manage high severity fire zones.
• You’ll see our herd will leave matter and avoid certain plants that aren’t palatable certain times of the year. Our natural environment needs the vegetation to have a healthy ecosystem, that in turn can hold more water in the soil, preventing erosion and fostering heather fire resistant plants, while providing healthy habitat for animals. What does happen is that most of the vegetation is thinned out and trampled to a point that it won’t have enough contiguous plant matter to keep a hot fire going. The goats browse, sometimes you may see them climbing, and the sheep mow. Without herd ruminants, or mechanical removal, fire will eventually come to cycle the plant matter back into the soil. In place of having intense wild fires we can manage the brush and grasses with careful management of our flerd (flock and herd).
• Nature’s recyclers: Sheep and goats have 4 stomach chambers in which they can take plant matter and turn it into pelletized compost that can go directly back to feeding the soil. If you cut and remove plants it disrupts the natural cycle, and will start to produce drier and more brittle harsh plants as it turns from lush, to fire tinder leading to desertification. As part of our big picture ecological regeneration goals, seek to have succession from desert to forest. Sheep and goats close the loop. Their action removes hazards and recycle them and puts a natural pressure on the land, while adding to habitat health.
• We have treated over 350 acres in Del Sur Community HOA alone over fall and winter and have a multi-year presence here. On average each member of the herd consumes 4% of it’s body weight each day with a combined effort of 1200-1400 lbs per day. We estimate this season the herd has recycled more than 240,000lbs of potential fire fuel from the area.
• We worked to found the San Diego Prescribed Grazing Taskforce to expand this work into the Black Mountain Open Spaces that abut the Santaluz community as well as neighboring communities.

In the case of an emergency please call us at 858-522-0402 to reach us 24/7.
All other inquiries can be made by e-mail: [email protected]
For more information visit www.goodshepherds.earth and for a more candid lens into our work and lifestyle, feel free to follow us on Instagram: @wearegoodshepherds

We are happy and honored to be here serving the land and community in these ways. We look forward to a smooth and successful grazing!

Sincerely,
Your Good Shepherds

Grazing Areas for Spring/Summer 2024

2024 Grazing Plan:
Area 1: Late May to Mid-June
      - SDCWA along Run of the Knolls
Area 2: Mid-June to Late June
     - Doug Hill (East of Caminito Santaluz Sur)
Area 3: Late June to Mid-July
     - Caminito Santaluz Sur slope
Area 4: Mid-July
     - South Side of Caminito Santaluz Sur/Lazanja Pass
Area 5: Mid-July
     - Purple Sage Slope
Area 6: Late July
     - Garden Trail
Area 7: Early to Mid-August
     - Between Northern Lights and Iluminado
Area 8: Late August to Early September
     - Montien/San Dieguito Road