Black Forest rancher uses sheep to pursue regenerative agriculture and wildfire mitigation

COLORADO SPRINGS — William Vogl, a rancher based in Black Forest, is hiring out his multiple flocks of sheep to land owners across Northern El Paso County in order to facilitate healthy soil, eliminate weeds, and reduce wildfire fuels; in short, he and his sheep are pursuing regenerative agriculture and wildfire mitigation.

Vogl began raising sheep in 2019; between then and now, his multiple flocks have grown to include approximately 180 sheep in total that are utilized for meat as well as prescribed grazing operations across the north side of El Paso County.

"We bring them from property to property in order to manage the vegetation, whether that's for mowing, weed mitigation, or for fire fuel reduction," commented Vogl.

Watch Vogl's Story in the Video Player Below

Vogl says that a key component is also utilizing well-managed grazing to improve soil health, "And we do it in a way that mimics how elk, bison, and deer used to migrate through this area; [it's] that cycle of rest and recovery that the land used to have to build deeper and deeper soil and improve land over time."

This pursuit allows Vogl to combine multiple passions as well as professional insights.

"I can take multiple passions of what I do, the firefighting, which I've done since '09, the ranching, which I grew up with, and just this desire for good land stewardship," Vogl continued.

For Vogl, as mentioned above, good land stewardship also includes reducing wildfire fuels on the properties where the flock graze.

"The things that we look for in firefighting is actually prevention," said Vogl, "we don't want to actually have to put the fire out if we can prevent the fire from happening in the first place."

Prescribed or targeted grazing operations that utilize livestock to reduce wildfire fuels have been utilized over the years across the country; while Vogl is currently only operating his flocks on private properties, he hopes that in a couple of years he will be able to facilitate prescribed grazing on public lands.

"We've actually reached out and started conversations with many county and smaller special district agencies in our area to hopefully start working with them as well," stated Vogl.

For additional information on Vogl and the flocks of sheep he operates, click here.
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