Some golf courses are becoming more environmentally friendly by planting native species, encouraging wildlife, and reducing the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation. This Illinois golf course plants patches of tall grass prairie.
Golf courses are often blamed for polluting streams and rivers. Thats because those perpetually green lawns often come with a price– heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers that can end up in nearby waterways, and some of those chemicals have been blamed for killing wildlife. In big cities, golf course superintendents point out that their links at least provide some green space in an otherwise asphalt and concrete landscape. They note that they often attract some birds and other small animals. But now some golf courses are not just looking at attracting wildlife as a side benefit, their superintendents are actively working to reduce chemical use and establish wildlife habitat, even in large metropolitan areas. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Golf courses are often blamed for polluting streams and rivers.
That’s because those perpetually green lawns often come with a price–
heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers that can end up in nearby waterways and
some of those chemicals have been blamed for killing wildlife. In big cities…
golf course superintendents point out that their links at least provide
some green space in an otherwise asphalt and concrete landscape. They
note that they often attract some birds and other small animals. But now
some golf courses are not just looking at attracting wildlife as a side benefit.
Their superintendents are actively working to reduce chemical use and
establish wildlife habitat – even in large metropolitan areas. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports.
(open w/ cricket and bird ambience)
Dan Dinelli is the golf course superintendent of one of the Chicago
area’s older courses. The North Shore Country Club built this course in
1924. Dinelli has spent his life here. Except for time away in college…
Dinelli has always lived and worked around the links where his father was
grounds superintendent before him.
When Dan Dinelli took over the superintendent’s position in the 1980’s,
he realized he could not only maintain the links so they play well and
the grounds look nice as his father kept them… but he could also use
one of the biggest patches of open space around as a home for wildlife…
something he thought the golfers might grow to appreciate.
“The game of golf, you know, it’s a great sport, great activity, but really
part of my fulfillment of being a golf course superintendent is this idea
that what we do here on this 170 acres really goes far beyond the impacts of
just the game of golf. And it gives me the ability to create an
understanding to this captive audience, being the golfers here. You know the
first step is awareness and then comes the appreciation, the respect and
then that’s where things start to roll.”
He started cautiously reducing the fertilizer, pesticide use, and
cutting back on irrigation. He also began planting some wildflowers in out
of the way bunkers. He added native grasses… prairie grasses that once
covered this part of Illinois.
“And now it tends to mellow out to what I would call a meadow. And we try to
maintain that floral beauty and have that impact, if you will on these
different flowers.” LG: Is that a fox over there? “Yes, that’s a fox.” LG:
So, these fox aren’t bothered by— “In fact, I think there’s two fox there,
if you look. They’re playing I think. They’ve on the other– see the golfers
walk right by (laugh). There he goes.” LG: So, this really has– to see a
fox in the middle of Chicago is really, uh… “Well, we have, fortunately we’
re pretty close to the forest preserve system. So, really, even though we’re
surrounded by mostly residential homes, we have coyotes here frequently that
you mainly see in the early morning hours. The fox actually have dens here.
The deer are here almost every night. So, yes, we get a lot of wildlife that
sort of comes through, so to speak.”
(Sound of golf cart starting and runing)
As we drive around the course, Dinelli shows me houses designed
for the migrating birds that fly through this area. He points out small
groves of trees and shrubs he planted because they shelter and feed birds. At
the golf course’s native tree nursery, most of the saplings were grown
from oak and hickory sprouts found on the grounds. Huge prairie plants tower
near the border of the property. Dinelli talks about the golf course much as
a park ranger would talk about a wildlife preserve.
“Let’s see if our friend the red tail’s here today. There she is. See the
red tail hawk? LG: Oh, yeah. “Now, here, she nested in this elm tree. (turns
golf cart off) Now, you’re probably aware that birds of prey are great
indicator species in that they’re considered to be top of the food chain.
So, if there’s pollution in the area, it tends to show up within that
species. And this red tail’s been here for several years now. (HAWK
SCREECHES) Okay, we won’t bother you.”
(golf cart starts up again)
The North Shore Country Club’s members are
movers and shakers. Dinelli says the changes at the course have
attracted their attention. Heads of corporations ask about establishing
prairies on corporate campuses. They see how simple changes in plantings can
benefit wildlife, while being cheaper to maintain.
Unlike a typical water trap on a golf course, we drive up to a
created wetland. Dinelli points to some ducks paddling across the small
pond nibbling on floating weeds. They were raised by his daughters. Other
more timid ducks hide in the reeds. These were orphaned wood ducks
released by wildlife biologists. The golf course is their home now. A native plant
called joe pie weed grows on the banks of the pond. Dinelli says a
wetland works well on a golf course.
“And we pick, like I said, pussy willow and other plants that have some
floral beauty for people, but also creates a habitat and beauty, like I
said, and a draw for things especially like butterflies. Then my girls, they’ll
go out and collect toads and frogs and salamanders and we release them
in here as well. We had a pile of old boulders that was left over from a
landscape project, so we piled them in the wooded area there on top of each
other and that’s great for like salamanders and amphibians and makes a great
little habitat for them and that’s where we release them.” LG: So, you’re
working really hard here, not just to make the golf course pretty, you’re
doing a lot planning specifically to encourage wildlife. “Absolutely. Like I
mentioned, just having 170 acres open land in this area, 20 miles north of
Chicago, you’re going to have an impact, a favorable impact, but you can
always do better.”
Dinelli strives to do better by consulting wildlife biologists,
environmentalists and researchers. Dinelli is involved in an
experiment with Ohio state University to see if different organic wastes can be
used for compost on golf course turf. He’s using advanced technology to
reduce fertilizer and pesticide use as well as cut irrigation to a minimum.
Injured birds of prey ready to return to the wild are first released here.
There’s a lot going on here, and because of the ongoing effort, Audubon
International has certified the golf course in its cooperative sanctuary system.
Dinelli says with the support of the North Shore Country Club’s board
he’ll keep looking for other ways to benefit nature… and in the end the
golfers who enjoy it.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.