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Pars, bogeys and birds
Pinehurst’s insight and stewardship lead to widespread enhancement of habitat for endangered wildlife.
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Commitment to a program that supports projects for threatened and endangered wildlife species earned North Carolina’s
Pinehurst Resort the 2007 GCSAA President’s Award for Environmental
Stewardship.
Established in 1991, the award recognizes an exceptional environmental contribution to the game of golf which further exemplifies the golf course superintendent’s image as a steward of the land.
Two-way protection
In 1995, the Safe Harbor Program was created as a collaboration between Pinehurst; the nonprofit group Environmental Defense (formerly Environmental Defense Fund); the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and other conservationists to help private landowners enhance habitat on a voluntary basis in exchange for legal protection that no additional restrictions from the Endangered Species Act will be placed on their land.
Not only is the famed North Carolina resort the original private property to enter the Safe Harbor Program, but it actually developed the idea of such a thing as an answer to the presence of a member of the endangered list, the red-cockaded woodpecker, on six of the eight Pinehurst golf courses and adjacent residences, as well as other courses and private properties in the encompassing Sandhills region.
“Interest was shown and the right questions were asked,” Brad Kocher, CGCS, senior vice president of golf course management at the resort, says of the scenario that led to Pinehurst, Environmental Defense and local wildlife and environmental agencies teaming up to kick-start Safe Harbor 11 years ago. Kocher says the woodpecker had long made a home in the area and a solution was needed so habitat could be enhanced without penalty.
Persuasion prevails
“The key role that Pinehurst Resort played in the initiation of the Safe Harbor Program is something that the entire golf industry can be proud of,” says GCSAA President Sean A. Hoolehan, CGCS. “We applaud the Pinehurst golf course management staff for its effort in providing a nurturing habitat for the endangered woodpeckers.”
Michael Bean, chairman of Environmental Defense’s wildlife program and the chief collaborator with Kocher in brainstorming Safe Harbor and its practical application in the Sandhills, notes that besides providing the impetus for the program and being the first landowner to sign on, Pinehurst also has been the first property to document the establishment of new red-cockaded woodpeckers.
“Pinehurst’s role sent a signal to other golf courses and other landowners in the area that this was a sensible, responsible approach to take,” Bean says. “I feel very indebted both to Brad personally and to Pinehurst for their willingness to be the first to step out into unknown territory to see how this thing really worked. And, fortunately, everyone has been quite pleased.”
Bean points out, for instance, that besides about 100 landowners in the Sandhills region, including more than a dozen golf course facilities, more than 4 million acres are currently under the Safe Harbor Program, protecting some three dozen endangered species in all. Notable examples, he adds, have been the reintroduction of the highly endangered Aplomado falcon in Texas and the reintroduction of Hawaii’s state bird, the Hawaiian Goose, to the island of Molokai.
“It’s been a very successful way of engaging landowners as partners in conservation efforts for endangered species and has succeeded in its objective of making it possible for landowners to lay out the welcome mat for endangered species on their land without fearing that in doing so they would be inviting new restrictions or regulations,” says Bean, whose organization’s motto is “finding the ways that work.”
Team effort
Under Safe Harbor, the key task for the Pinehurst golf course maintenance department, directed by Bob Farren, CGCS, the resort’s grounds and golf course manager, is to maintain the woodpecker’s habitat through a pine forest management strategy that encourages the bird’s presence by eliminating mid-story hardwoods and nurturing pine forage growth attractive to the species and essential to its survival.
Meanwhile, local environmental and Fish & Wildlife Service personnel keep a watchful eye on the birds and provide the expertise to enhance the habitat throughout the property.
“It’s all part of enabling people to do things to encourage the woodpeckers without being penalized,” says Kocher, a 30-year member of GCSAA.
Integral to Pinehurst’s efforts have been Jay Carter, a local environmental biologist who has assisted Kocher and his staff from the beginning a decade ago, and Pete Campbell and Susan Miller of the Fish and Wildlife facility in nearby Southern Pines, N.C.
Campbell, whose office maintains a partnership with the Sandhills Ecological Institute, says they monitor the red-cockaded woodpecker groups on the golf course properties and associated residential areas to evaluate the program’s progress and manage the habitat for existing birds and to attract new ones.
“The key issue is cavity limitation,” he says of the homes carved out of long-leaf pine trees by the woodpeckers that are germane to their existence. “The birds require the more mature trees — 80 years old — and at least 10 inches in diameter. The real kicker is that it takes up to eight years for the birds to complete a cavity.”
And that’s where Fish and Wildlife’s oversight turns to hands-on if necessary. Campbell says they can drill new cavities or create a start for the birds to finish. Another man-made option is to install into an appropriate tree an insert box made of western cedar that’s ready for immediate occupation.
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Understory management by the Pinehurst maintenance department results in hardwoods being eliminated to produce clear pine forage habitat favored by the woodpeckers. |
Bird-friendly maintenance
Campbell emphasizes that the Pinehurst program is a prime example of golf course management producing ancillary benefits. He also recalls that many years ago the red-cockaded woodpecker existed on the site where course No. 8 is located today. But the species abandoned the site because of its thick hardwood understory.
When No. 8 was built in 1994, that understory was cleared. The irony is that the woodpecker has yet to return to the site, but the habitat is in place. Meanwhile, Campbell and Kocher have observed the woodpecker on Pinehurst courses 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 and the surrounding residential areas.
“Most of the time in the case of golf courses, what’s good for them is good for the woodpeckers,” Campbell says of the scenario at No. 8 in particular and Pinehurst management in general. “A land use like building a golf course may take a third of the habitat away for its fairways, but then it clears out the understory from the remaining pine habitat. You may have what is considered a net loss of habitat, but in my opinion, you have a net gain in the quality of habitat that had been degraded and is now restored.”
Friendly confines
Bean, in noting that the expansion of the Safe Harbor Program in the last decade now touches more than 30 other endangered species, says the larger scope should mean many other potential opportunities for golf courses to provide much-needed habitat.
“Not every endangered species can live on a golf course, but many can be accommodated,” he says. “Safe Harbor represents a tool to help a number of other endangered species on golf courses.”
Kocher, who along with Farren will accept the President’s Award Feb. 23 at the President’s Celebration during the GCSAA Education Conference and Golf Industry Show in Anaheim, also sees Safe Harbor as another window to showcase the positive environmental aspects of golf courses.
“I think this is one of those blends of government regulation and private industry, and people getting together to find solutions to problems,” says Kocher, who a year ago received an award on behalf of Pinehurst from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the 10th anniversary celebration of Safe Harbor.
“I think there are a lot of golf courses that could enroll in different Safe Harbor programs, whether the endangered species is actually on their property or adjacent to it,” he adds. “Typically, superintendents know golf courses are great areas for different species to thrive on. It’s sort of the tip of the iceberg as far as what golf courses can do. It sends the message that there are a variety of solutions to things.”
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