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Presented in partnership with BASF
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The perks of stream restorations
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Editor’s note: Inside Your Environment periodically presents information being featured or archived on The Environmental Institute for Golf Web site. For more about this month’s topic, visit www.eifg.org.
Read almost any newspaper or news magazine lately and you’ll likely find stories about drought, hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico and other similar issues. The focus, clearly, is water, and it’s no surprise why we hear about it — we need it to survive. The (not-so) funny thing, though, is only 3 percent of the earth’s water is freshwater, and according to the U.S. Geological Survey, only 0.3 percent is found in the earth’s rivers and lakes.
Take just a bit of time to research the EPA’s Web site or other groups like natural resource agencies, river organizations and other conservation non-profits, and you will find more than enough information about the importance of stream restoration projects. These projects help to restore aquatic habitat, restore water quality and provide riparian habitat.
Not convinced that a stream restoration on a golf course is worth it or concerned about funding such a project? Then take a look at the stories of Eastmoreland Golf Course and Crosswater Club in Oregon, where Class A superintendent Stephen Hoiland and Jim Ramey, CGCS, worked with local organizations and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to make a difference within their watersheds.
At Eastmoreland GC, the Johnson Creek Watershed Council teamed up with Hoiland, a 10-year GCSAA member, and the ODFW to stabilize 300 feet of stream and lake bank, create a 300-foot fish bypass and create fish habitat within a tributary that was once a fish passage for salmon.
“These aquatic enhancements now provide golfers and garden visitors with the rare opportunity to view native salmon and steelhead spawning in an urban environment,” says Noah Jenkins, an invasive species outreach specialist with JCWC. In his case study, “Eastmoreland Golf Course and the Johnson Creek Watershed Council: A Case Study in Cooperative Problem Solving,” Jenkins talks about the restoration and the various groups involved with this significant project. The full case study can be found by visiting The Environmental Institute for Golf’s Web site at www.eifg.org, then clicking on the link for Green Links: Highlights from the Edge.
Also featured at Green Links is “Little Deschutes River Restoration and Fish Habitat Enhancement at Crosswater” by Ramey, a 23-year member of GCSAA, that focuses on his efforts at Crosswater Club 14 years ago that produced positive results. “The development of a beautiful 600-acre meadow in conjunction with the Little Deschutes River Restoration and Fish Habitat Enhancement program has transformed this meadow and river corridor into a natural environment and green space,” Ramey writes in the case study. “Wild flowers, native grasses, wildlife and fish habitat have been improved and now flourish.”
Green Links guest columnist for this story, Tim Wise, a fisheries biologist for the ODFW, writes, “Fourteen years post project, the restored sections of river have matured, providing a vibrant, aesthetically pleasing and naturally functioning river reach as it winds its way through the Crosswater course. One can observe beaver and river otter making their way up and down river. Neo-tropical song birds nest every spring in the riparian areas lining the riverway. Redband trout and brown trout inhabit the waterway using the areas of in-stream tree structures to avoid the eyes of Osprey flying the river in search of their next meal.”
Yes, stream restoration projects make a difference, especially on a golf course, where superintendents practice environmental stewardship every day and help to protect the habitat and surface water. Superintendents can consider following Ramey and Hoiland’s examples by contacting their local organizations, watershed groups and natural resource agencies for potential stream restoration projects.
Ed Begley Jr., actor and champion of the environment, will deliver the keynote address at next month’s International Irrigation Show held by the Irrigation Association in San Diego. Begley hosts an environmental reality show on the Home & Garden Television channel that highlights his solar-powered home, equipped with eco-friendly devices such as an energy-generating stationary bicycle. The keynote address is sponsored by The Toro Co., which also hosted the actor at its 2007 WaterSmart Symposium held last July in Riverside, Calif. The event will be held Dec. 9-11 at the San Diego Convention Center. Rain Master landed a non-traditional gig recently — installing a central irrigation control system on top of a roof. The company’s control system allows the California Sciences Academy in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park to feature a plant-covered canopy on its roof as opposed to a more conventional tar or asphalt topping. The foliage-shingled concept is intended to save energy and transform carbon dioxide into oxygen. When it opens in October 2008, the building is expected to be the largest public Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum Certified structure in the world. The roof consists of a layered drainage system underneath the soil, and seven concrete domes under the drainage system. |
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