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Good practice Imported

Buena Cabra — Rotational Goat-Grazing Firebreaks That Held a Chilean Native Forest Through a Megafire

Chile · Santa Juana · See the Chile profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 76% 33/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 2017 a Chilean native-forest reserve has used a rotating goat herd (16, then 150, now about 250) to graze down flammable understory across roughly 60 hectares; when a 2023 megafire destroyed nearly 70% of the surrounding municipality, the grazed forest was not penetrated.

~250
Goat herd size (2026)
~60 ha
Grazed area
<10%
Reserve trees affected by 2023 megafire (2023)
~70%
Municipal territory destroyed by 2023 megafire (2023)
Buena Cabra — Rotational Goat-Grazing Firebreaks That Held a Chilean Native Forest Through a Megafire

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Buena Cabra / Bosques de Chacay (founded by Rocio Cruces and Victor Faundez), with Universidad de Concepcion
Period
2017-2026
Keywords
wildfire risk reduction, silvopasture, regenerative grazing, native forest conservation

Context

Bosques de Chacay is a native-forest reserve in Santa Juana municipality (Biobío Region, Chile) restored from an abandoned property since 2017, in an area vulnerable to wildfire.

Activities

Founders Rocío Cruces and Víctor Faúndez adopted rotational goat grazing, moving a herd through fenced sections to keep flammable understory (bramble, retama shrub, dry grass) low; the herd grew from 16 goats (2017) to about 150 by 2023 and roughly 250 by 2026, with grazing extended to about 60 hectares.

Results

When a February 2023 megafire burned close to 440,000 hectares regionally and destroyed an estimated 70% of Santa Juana's territory, the fire surrounded but did not penetrate the grazed sections, with less than 10% of the reserve's trees affected, per BioBioChile and VOA News reporting; a University of Concepción forestry engineer has publicly endorsed the approach, and general (non-Chile-specific) research found grazing cut fire severity 15-68% (Sardinia) and burn probability ~45% (California).

Conclusions

The founders themselves say the project lacks the stable long-term financing from forestry companies, utilities or municipalities needed to replicate it at scale, though Santa Juana municipal officials have expressed interest.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Founders Rocío Cruces and Víctor Faúndez, University of Concepción forestry engineering advisor (Francisco Di Napoli)

Conditions for success

  • Fenced rotational grazing sections to sustain fuel-load reduction year-round
  • Herd scaled gradually (16 → ~250 goats) alongside area grazed (to ~60 ha)

Common failure modes

  • No stable long-term financing secured from forestry companies, utilities or municipalities, which founders say limits replication at scale

Commonly funded by

Own resources / municipal budget

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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