Sheep on the Wildfire Front Line

Recent years have seen some of the worst fire seasons on record. One of the oldest defences against wildfire – grazing – may bring relief.

"Pyrograzing turns ordinary livestock into fire prevention heroes," asked one headline this past month, "so why isn't it used on public lands more often?"

The short answer is, grazing can't solve every problem, but research suggests it can make fires less intense and easier to control.

Shepherds and land managers have long known this. Policymakers are beginning to take note.

First, the stats

In 2025, the EU had its worst fire year on record. Nearly 8,000 fires burned more than one million hectares. This year, by 23 September, the number had reached nearly 680,000 hectares. This is nearly double the 20-year average.

Across the Atlantic, Canada recorded around 5,000 wildfires and over 4 million hectares burned so far this year.  In the United States, wildfires tracked by the National Interagency Fire Center averaged about 67,500 fires and 2.6 million hectares burned per year between 2016 and 2025.

What causes these fires? In part, heat and drought. These factors are compounded by shrubs and trees that grow on land that is no longer farmed or grazed. The Landes region near Bordeaux in France, which burned so badly this year, is a prime example. This area was once grazed moorland on transhumance routes. It was planted with pine in the 19th century.

What's transhumance, and why would it help prevent fires?

Transhumance is the ancient practice of moving flocks between lowland and upland pastures, following the seasons. The practice allows flocks to remove dry vegetation without overgrazing. In addition, the routes they wear into the land act as natural firebreaks.

How it works is that grazing animals – sheep, but also cows and goats – eat the dry material and other plants that would fuel a fire. Sheep can graze on steep ground and in places where machinery can't reach easily.

Herders have shaped the world's landscapes for thousands of years. But in recent decades, as farmers and herders left the land, vegetation built up unchecked.

Along with transhumance, targeted grazing is showing it can help reduce the intensity of wildfires. This helps fire crews to control flames, and also helps the land to recover.

Shepherds on the front line

In Andalusia, shepherds have been part of the region's fire-prevention service for two decades. Under the RAPCA programme, formally launched in 2005, the regional government pays shepherds to graze their sheep and goats along firebreaks, with forest staff checking the results before payment is made. Some 220 shepherds maintain close to 6,000 hectares this way (the numbers are from 2018). A field evaluation of more than 2,000 hectares of these firebreaks found that both sheep and goat flocks were effective at reducing fuel loads.

In Galicia, at the centre of Spain's worst fire year in 2025, communities are rebuilding their native flocks and herds. Across the region, native livestock grew from about 1,800 animals in the late 1990s to more than 30,000 by early 2026, Reuters reported. Grazing works best "in conjunction with other strategies like mechanical thinning and pruning of biomass and controlled burning," forestry engineer Jose Vicente Oliver told Reuters.

EU-funded projects are building on this experience. In Catalonia, LIFE AgroForAdapt has developed SilPas, a mapping tool that pinpoints high-risk areas, particularly where grassland meets forest, so that grazing by cattle, sheep or goats creates firebreaks where they matter most. Across seven regions of Spain, France and Andorra, LIFE Pyrenees4Clima moves local mountain cattle through the landscape to the same end.

What less fuel means when fire strikes

Modelling shows the difference. In Extremadura's Sierra de Gata, researchers found that grazed and managed firebreaks shortened flames and slowed their spread. In Sonoma County, California, 600 sheep grazed overgrown properties for about a day. Fire Safe Sonoma then modelled a fire on a warm, breezy afternoon. Before grazing, flames of at least 6 metres would have spread fast and likely climbed into the trees. Afterwards, flames of around 1.5 metres would move slowly enough that firefighters could probably control them.

Paying for grazing

Policy is beginning to catch up. The EU's wildfire strategy, published in March, holds up Andalusia's RAPCA as good practice and proposes that future farm funding support extensive grazing as a way to manage fuel. July's Livestock Strategy adds that grazing animals help "limit wildfire-risk", and that wool is "a resource that has value."

Paying shepherds need not be costly. Researchers found RAPCA cheaper than clearing firebreaks by machine. But if flocks are to stay on the land, grazing has to pay, through schemes that reward the service and markets for what flocks produce. One of the oldest defences against wildfire only works if there are still shepherds to practise it.