Photograph by WCI Communities, Inc.
Feature: On the Green
November 1, 2006
Among the minimum standards required for Signature Program certification are
drainage systems that must first filter all water that will then be piped into
any body of water; maintenance buildings with separate pesticide storage areas;
and covered, self-contained fuel islands and wash pad facilities where
irrigation water used to rinse off mowers and other maintenance equipment is
captured and cleaned by high-tech filters, then recycled back onto the golf
course. Today, according to Zeh, there are 148 active members in the Signature
Program, 61 of which are certified as either Bronze, Silver or Gold courses.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
The ninth hole at Bonita Bay Group’s Bay Island, designed by Arthur
Hills. The course is a model for conservation-focused luxury links. Photograph
by The Bonita Bay Group. (Click image to enlarge)
For people like Joel Blaker, director of agronomy for the upscale Tahoe Mountain
Resorts in Truckee, Calif., Audubon’s Signature Program is a great opportunity
to showcase the golf industry in a different light and dispel all those negative
perceptions. Blaker has already built one course, Old Greenwood, to Gold
Signature status, and is in the process of adding a second, the private Gray’s
Crossing, scheduled to open next June.
“People don’t understand the positive impact we have on the environment,” says
Blaker, whose Old Greenwood course is one of just 12 Gold-certified courses in
the world and the only one in California. “There’s huge wildlife out on our
courses because we have massive amounts of wildlife corridors and habitat. Also,
turfgrass is nature’s best filter. It filters the storm water runoff from the
entire development—all the water that’s being irrigated—and it recharges the
groundwater system. It doesn’t pollute it.
“Plus, with all the advances we’ve made with turfgrass research and the new
technologies we have in construction and other practices…we’re becoming more
environmentally friendly. For instance, we have new turfgrass varieties that
use less water and they’re more disease resistant, so they need fewer
pesticides. All of these new standards—together with the environmental standards
already in place—add up to the golf course being a benefit to the environment,
not a negative.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
In his design for Old Greenwood in Lake Tahoe, Jack Nicklaus strove to integrate
the course with its natural surroundings. Photograph by East West Partners. (Click image to enlarge)
Two of the biggest supporters of these sentiments, and of Audubon International
in general, are Florida-based WCI Communities and the Bonita Bay Group, two of
the country’s leading developers of private high-end golf course communities.
WCI believes so strongly in Audubon International that it signed a $1.4 million
contract four years ago to develop 10 future “sustainable communities,”
including 12 courses currently enrolled in the Gold Signature Program (five are
already certified, one of which is the first-ever resort course, Raptor Bay Golf
Club in Bonita Springs, Fla.).
“Nature is an amenity,” says Karen Childress, environmental stewardship manager
for WCI. “Whenever we can save nature and offer it as an amenity, it’s a win-win
financially and environmentally.”
At the Bonita Bay Group, six of the company’s private courses are certified,
including Bonita Bay Club East, the world’s first private 36-hole Audubon
Signature Cooperative Sanctuary (Bronze status), and Mediterra, the first
36-hole Silver Signature Sanctuary.
“The difference between environmental agendas from the normal regulatory views
and Audubon International is that Audubon International has gotten people to
voluntarily move down the pathway of environmental stewardship rather than
adversely trying to beat people into doing it,” says Ed Rodgers, who formerly
oversaw Bonita Bay Group’s golf operations.
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