| 2010 Sustainable Golf Survey Results |
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Today, more than two thousand golf courses in thirty-six countries participate in the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program (ACSP). More than twenty years old, the program is an award-winning education and certification program that promotes ecologically-sound land management and conservation of natural resources on golf courses. “The concept is simple: Give people the right reasons to take environmental stewardship seriously, along with tools, information, and incentives for action, and they will embrace their responsibility to nature,” states Joellen Lampman, ACSP Program Director. Recent surveys highlight the resultant successes.
Conducted first in 2001, and later in 2010, The Managed Lands Survey for Golf, a survey of ACSP for Golf Course members, indicated areas of great success as well as areas for improvement. With a twenty-five percent survey return rate, the results are focused on three critical environmental areas—Chemical Use Reduction and Safety, Wildlife and Habitat Management, and Water Quality and Conservation—as well as Participant Attitudes (i.e., examining the effect of the program on the golf experience and job satisfaction). Once again, the efforts of golf course superintendents, managers, course staff, and golfers themselves have shown to be worthy of praise and recognition.
Another important part of the program is the maintenance facility. There are no requirements for specific types of technology, just the basics of spill containment and filtering. For example, chemicals must be mixed and loaded over an impervious surface so any spilled material can be collected and handled according to the label. Through the program, 31% more of members have reduced the risk of spills by changing the way they mix and load. It is because of changes like this that some insurance companies are now offering reduced rates to Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuaries.
Many golf courses are enrolled in the ACSP because it is considered “the right thing to do”, but there is also a strong business case for voluntary environmental action. In these days of tightening budgets, many of the recommendations made by Audubon International staff can reduce costs while also allowing you to frame the reasons for the changes in a positive, environmental light.
Golf courses also offer a unique open space in the human landscape for wildlife to exist and thrive. Ongoing stewardship actions and education efforts lead to habitat protection, natural resource protection, as well as a reduction in the overall impact of golf management practices on the surrounding ecosystem. Both the increase in wildlife habitat areas and the reduction in water use are positive signs of environmental stewardship in action. The decrease in pesticide use and the use of lower toxicity pesticides is also encouraging. Continued use of Integrated Pest Management systems and best management practices will benefit the environment by ensuring the right pesticide, the right application, and the right amount is used to avoid decreases in water and turf quality.
In the end, if a golf course and its staff work towards certification in the ACSP for Golf Courses, there will be environmental improvement at that property. With a half million acres enrolled in the program the cumulative effect of these property improvements for the ecosystems in which they operate can be significant. Certification of golf courses is a way to recognize those golf courses that not only have made a commitment to protecting and preserving the environment, but also have done so through projects and best management practices, and have documented those results. With these environmental improvements comes resultant business value and helps golf facilities be a good neighbor in their communities. Environmental stewardship, economic benefit, and positive social outcomes--that's a more sustainable golf operation.
For more information about the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses, Click Here.
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More than eighty percent of those enrolled have developed an environmental plan to guide management of the golf course and over eight hundred have achieved certification for their outstanding best practices. Along with basic environmental education of golf course management professionals, environmental performance and improvement on golf courses is the critical measure of success for the ACSP for Golf Courses. As such, through surveys and database management, program staff have continued to work to find the most efficient ways to measure the programs’ effects on water, wildlife, and other natural resources on golf courses.
Probably the biggest difference you will see between golf courses in the ACSP for Golf Courses and those that are not enrolled is the amount of shoreline vegetation around water features.Before joining the program, the average member had natural vegetation around 33% of their shorelines, compared to 72% after actively participating in the program. The ACSP requirement for certification is that 50% of out-of-play shorelines be naturalized. About 75% of ACSP members increased naturalized shorelines, with 39% increasing it by 50% or more.Another 11% went from no natural shorelines to 100% shorelines as a result of participation in the program.