Sanctuaries in our midst

Did you know that nearly 27 million Americans play golf on nearly 16,000 courses nationwide? That's about 1.79 million acres of greens and fairways – covering half the area of Pennsylvania's state parks and forests combined!  That's a lot of valuable green space.

Golf courses can serve as a safe haven for animals, birds, and native flora species – that's the idea behind the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary for Golf Courses (ACSP) program.

In my first blog post on green golf courses, you saw a big-picture view of Hershey Country Club (HCC) and its continuing habitat-creation efforts as a certified member of ACSP. Today, we'll dive in and take a closer look at these activities, as well as how ACSP-certification practices have improved water quality at HCC courses.

Photo by Alicia Riegel Kanth

  
What do bluebirds and golf have in common?  Through HCC – quite a bit! Some years ago, HCC teamed up with the Bluebird Society of Pennsylvania to install wooden and PVC bluebird nesting boxes – crafted by Milton Hershey School and Palmyra High School – at strategic locations throughout the three golf courses (bluebird photos included!).  

Photo by Alicia Riegel Kanth

Last year, HCC noted 66 successful hatchings of bluebirds. Competition for these boxes can be quite fierce. Jen Quinn, PennFuture's central Pa. outreach coordinator, and I narrowly escaped involvement in a battle between a pair of bluebirds and some American tree swallows for possession of a nearby box on an East Course hole (pictures not included). 

To enhance the course habitats, HCC staff also installed wood duck and kestrel boxes as well as piling branches in some tree groves for burrowing animals.  Vegetated buffers along stream banks attract blue herons (see photo) scoping out prey. Incorporating the bird boxes around the property provides wonderful educational opportunities for students and the public because they can see these birds in a more natural setting.

Photo by Alicia Riegel Kanth

Photo by Alicia Riegel Kanth

The photos you're seeing of stream bank and fairway buffers, as well as signage indicating an environmentally-sensitive naturalized meadow, are among the ways that HCC incorporates naturalized areas into their courses (see photos). 

These naturalized areas and buffers – allowed to grow as they will with removal of invasive species – are left unwatered, unfertilized, and unmowed. This practice decreases erosion and sedimentation in the streams and other waterbodies on the property. Additionally, HCC applies fertilizer and pest management products about 15-25 feet from waterbodies (ACSP has setback requirements for application of turf care products.).

Photo by Alicia Riegel Kanth

We’ve seen that course care can be more environmentally friendly, and that integrating wildlife habitat and altering management practices are simple, low-cost efforts that provide environmental benefits.

Is there an ACSP-certified golf course in your area?  If so, check it out! I may not become a golfer, but I can enjoy these places from afar and appreciate that more recreational areas in the Commonwealth are being sensibly managed, with our native species enjoying the benefits.

Alicia Riegel-Kanth is a volunteer policy associate in our Harrisburg office.