ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP EFFORTS AT PGA WEST
It’s a little known fact at PGA WEST that the golf course maintenance department has been working behind the scenes to become more ‘environmentally friendly.’ Our hope is that over the next couple of years, we will be able to achieve certification as a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary through Audubon International on each of the six PGA WEST courses. As of January 2009, only three courses here in the Coachella Valley had received certification, the Citrus Course being the first. Our goal is that by the end of 2011, the nine golf courses that make up PGA WEST, the Citrus Course and the Mountain and Dunes will have completed the certification process. Currently, the Greg Norman, the Nicklaus Private and the Weiskopf courses have been tracking their progress through the certification process, with the Stadium, Nicklaus Tournament and Arnold Palmer starting theirs within the next year.
The program looks at several different areas: environmental planning, wildlife and habitat management, chemical use reduction and safety, water conservation, water quality management and community outreach and education. Over the past few years, a lot of changes have been going on in golf course maintenance that contributes to the success of the program. At several locations, new pump stations were installed to help increase efficiency with both water and power usage. To further improve water efficiency, many courses received new irrigation heads and upgrades to the irrigation computers. In addition to recycling our greens waste, we worked with Burrtec and have implemented a recycling program for our facilities that has reduced our ‘regular’ waste by roughly 50% and our offices are trying to use more ‘green’ and recycled products. We have reduced our chemical usage throughout all nine courses and are using chemicals now that are safer for the environment and our team members, actually eliminating the mandatory respirator program and moving to a voluntary respirator program. Also in an effort to reduce chemical usage in our lakes, our lake management company has been working with a microbial program that will help to reduce and control algae naturally. Over the next 18 months, we hope to be able to focus more on wildlife promotion and community awareness, outreach and education. Kurt Leuschner, Associate Professor of Natural Resources Applied Science & Business at College of the Desert, continues to work with us and offer his assistance to help us reach our wildlife and community education goals. Working with him we were able to find prime locations for placement of barn owl nesting boxes at the Citrus Course and hope to do the same on some of the PGA WEST courses in the future.
It’s easy to get caught up in believing that going green or becoming environmentally friendly is a major undertaking when in fact, making small changes in how we do everyday activities can have just as much of an impact. In our homes, we turn off lights that are not in use, make sure the water faucet is not dripping and at a minimum, recycle our bottles and cans. On the courses, we’re trying to make sure that we are also making small changes in how we do everyday activities. While some of those changes may not be visible to everyone, please know that golf course maintenance is committed to becoming the best environmental steward it possibly can be.
 |
 |
|
Big Horn Sheep on the 3rd hole of the Nicklaus Private.
Courtesy of Chris Faulkner |
Primrose plant that bloomed this June
Courtesy of Pascal Sijen |
|
Photo by Evan Schiller