Land trust, Idaho Goat Grazers team up to test an age-old, organic method of weed control
First Published in the Idaho Capital Sun, October 24, 2025.
COMMENTARY
Land trust, Idaho Goat Grazers team up to test an age-old, organic method of weed control
Cheatgrass and other invasive species fuel wildfires that damage habitats and human-built structures, writes guest columnist Liz Cartwright.
LIZ CARTWRIGHT
OCTOBER 24, 2025 4:00 AM
A herd of goats graze on land in Bannock County as part of a partnership between the Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust and the Idaho Goat Grazers to address invasive weeds. (Photo by Liz Cartwright for the Idaho Capital Sun)
POCATELLO — The sagebrush steppe land that covers the hills around Pocatello and many parts of the Western U.S. is a beautiful, diverse landscape; it is also shrinking at a rapid rate due to drought associated with climate change, overgrazing by cattle and increasingly intense wildfires. Cheatgrass and other invasive species fuel wildfires that damage habitats and human-built structures.
The Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust has teamed up with the Idaho Goat Grazers to test an age-old, organic method of weed control — grazing goats.
The Century Heights portion of the land trust is made up of 266 acres of land in Bannock County that has been under its care since 2018. According to the land trust’s website, its mission is to “… protect, connect, and enhance wildlife habitat, working lands, and community spaces in Southeast Idaho, now and for future generations. Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust works with willing landowners in Southeast Idaho to conserve private land by creating tailored agreements, known as conservation easements, to protect land while keeping it in private ownership.”
The Century Heights portion of the Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust is made up of 266 acres of land in Bannock County that has been under its care since 2018. (Photo by Liz Cartwright for the Idaho Capital Sun)
This land trust area is essential grazing land for the large herds of mule deer that migrate across southeast Idaho. This makes the Century Heights land ideal for being in the trust.
“We look for land that connects wildlife migration routes,” said Carly Flandro, a spokesperson for the Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust.
Idaho goats expertly take on cheatgrass, other invasive plant species
In recent years, cheatgrass has proliferated in the region, and the land trust has been searching for the best means of controlling that invasive species.
Zachary Copeland of Idaho Goat Grazers has been working with the Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust for several months using his goats to clean up the cheatgrass and other invasive species.
Zachary Copeland and his dog Bruce (Photo by Liz Cartwright for the Idaho Capital Sun)
Earlier this year, Copeland’s herd of 70 Spanish goats grazed the upper ravines of the spring growth of cheatgrass. Now, in late October the herd is back to graze the lower ravines of Century Heights.
“We are trying to see how the cheatgrass handles spring grazing versus fall grazing and see how much of it we can eliminate,” Copeland said.
“The reason we are doing this now, is that cheatgrass is invasive and germinates in the fall, whereas the other native plants don’t germinate until the spring,” said Hannah Clawson, Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust’s stewardship coordinator. “So cheatgrass gets a huge head start which is why it is so prolific.”
On the beautiful fall afternoon when I met with Zachary and representatives from the land trust, the goats were having a great time doing their job. In a few hours, they cleaned up large swathes of Century Heights, leaving behind only a much safer environment and a bit of goat fertilizer.
Goats graze on invasive weeds in Bannock County. (Photo by Liz Cartwright for the Idaho Capital Sun)
Goats are particularly good at destroying the cheatgrass because of “the way they chew their cud, it breaks up the seeds better than other animals,” Copeland told me.
In other settings, herbicides like glyphosate (Roundup-ultra) are used to control cheatgrass. These chemicals are dangerous to human health and the health of all living creatures that come in contact with them according to a 2022 systematic review of the scientific literature. There appears to be a strong linkage between glyphosate and some cancers, Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders, according to another 2022 scientific review in the journal Environmental Research.
Finding ways to combat noxious weeds in a manner that is not harmful to our planet is increasingly important as humans live more closely intertwined with natural spaces and as our planet continues warming.
Using goat grazing to control cheatgrass is a positive step forward in creating a sustainable, safe and healthy environmental solution for this invasive species problem.
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