20080880 Ver 1_Public Comments_20080729 (5)

CLIFF(good news ) David Gantt / trouts follow-up / The Aspen Tim...
Subject: CLIFF(good news ) David Gantt / trouts follow-up / The Aspen Times Article - Impact of
Golf Courses
From: francois manavit <[e-mail]>
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:27:38 -0400
To: [e-mail], Rebecca Williams <[e-mail]>, Jennifer Taylor
<[e-mail]>, Doug Besler <[e-mail]>
CC: [e-mail], Loretta A SAW Beckwith
<Loretta. A. [e-mail]. army.mil>
Hi all,
Today the harvest was pretty positive. A smart move of the commissioners under the guidance of David
Gantt, wild brook trout up there could help our water through the NCDWQ authority . (i cc doug Besler at
NC wildlife commission) and finally an article with more facts and numbers that will be helpful .
Enjoy .
Francois
GANG- Good news. I believe we are going to prepare a letter from the collective Buncombe County
Commission, signed by our Chairman, on requesting a public hearing. I'll keep you in the loop as this
develops. I still have a few details to work out on this. Even if they don't agree to this, my letter has already
been sent.
David Gantt
Buncombe County Commissioner
82 Church Street
Asheville, NC 28801
(828-252-2852)
(800-273-4002)
Actually, I just got off the phone with Cyndi Karoly. A great 45 minute discussion. She said that the
presence of wild brook trout in streams would mean that NCDWQ would have objections to "any impact
that would destroy that population." So that is certainly something that is in our favor.
She also indicated that they would continue to accept comments and include them in the file beyond the
deadline date for public comment. So if we get additional information we can continue to send in more
information. She did express concern that some of the comments were simply "stop this development" and
that those were not helpful.
SO if we can figure out a way to ask people to articulate more sound comments that demonstrate
reasonable concern around environmental issues, that would be helpful.
I think it was a great idea that you copy the county commissioners with your letters. IKsuggest that we also
send a letter to state legislators as well. NCDWQ is a state-wide office and may be subject to some political
lobbying from organizations that are very pro-development, especially since this is Tiger Wood's first US
golf course. I think our representatives in the state legislature need to know that there is significant public
concern about the potential environmental impact of this development.
we'll stay in touch.
Rebecca

1 of 5 8/5/2008 9:23 AM
CLIFF(good news ) David Gantt / trouts follow-up / The Aspen Tim...
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Jennifer Taylor" <deely(c-bellsouth.net>
Date: July 28, 2008 12:55:24 PM EDT
To: "'francois manavit"' <francois(a-redherring puppets.com>
Subject: FW: The Aspen Times Article - Impact of Golf Courses
an article in the Aspen Times, published 7/14/08 on the impact of golf
courses:
ASPEN - For years now, golf courses have been subject to criticism for their use of resources.
Nationally, 18-hole golf courses apply about 780 pounds of pesticides to their courses per year, according
to a 2002 study funded by the Colorado Department of Health and the Environment. In an average year,
according to the study, a Colorado golf course can use about 30 to 65 million gallons of water to
maintain all turf areas.
"The perception is that golf courses take up a great deal of land and habitat, pollute water and soil with
turf chemicals, and use an inordinate amount of water, a particular concern in the western United
States," explains a 2004 Colorado State University Cooperative Extension paper titled "Resource and
Environmental Aspects of Golf in Colorado."
But since 1991, the U.S. Golf Association (USGA), in association with Audubon International (AI) - a
nonprofit not associated with the National Audubon Society - has been fighting that reputation through
a program called the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary program (ACS).
Certification requires courses to make changes in six areas, according to ACS program manager Joellen
Zah. Those changes include chemical use, wildlife habitat management, water conservation,
water-quality management, outreach and education, and environmental planning. The certification
generally takes between one and three years to achieve.
Participating golf courses pay $200 a year to be a part of the program.
Two Aspen golf courses have been certified by Audubon International - the Maroon Creek Club and the
Aspen Golf Course.
In the Roaring Fork Valley, the list of ACS clubs also includes the Aspen Glen Club in Carbondale, the
Roaring Fork Club in Basalt, and most recently, the Snowmass Club.
But while the ACS program requires golf courses to take measures to mitigate their environmental
impact, even ACS golf courses irrigate, use fertilizers and pesticides, and encourage extensive human
use of a land parcel (thus greatly reducing use of it by wildlife).
So how green are Aspen's greenest golf courses?
The ACS program
AI's original mission was to help entities such as towns or cities become more sustainable, said Zah. But
in the 1980s, the nonprofit found "people weren't ready" to commit their communities to environmental
protection.
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CLIFF(good news ) David Gantt / trouts follow-up / The Aspen Tim...
But an unlikely group of people were: golf course superintendents.
The first superintendent to find Al was looking for an environmentally-friendly way to discourage its
resident skunks. Word traveled, and soon several courses had sought the nonprofit's counsel.
By 1991, Al had joined with the U.S. Golf Association (USGA) to offer the ACS Golf program.
The program has enrolled 13 percent of the golf courses in the United States, a number Zah sees as an
accomplishment, given that there has been very little marketing of the program. However, it is well
below the nonprofit's stated goal of enrolling fifty percent of United States golf courses by 2007.
Moreover, enrolled golf courses are under no obligation to actually be more environmental, though the
assumption is that they are in the process of seeking ACS certification.
According to Zah, only four percent of the enrolled golf courses have completed all the steps to be
certified a "cooperative sanctuary."
To be certified, a golf course first works with Al to create a set of environmental goals.
As the goals are completed, the superintendent self-reports to Al. Al does not visit sites to confirm their
reporting before certifying them, said Zah, though sometimes the agency does "random" site visits.
The golf course receives ACS certification upon completion of its goals.
The difference
Like a hybrid car that cuts carbon emissions, but not by 100 percent, ACS golf courses have taken
measures - including some significant ones - to be more environmentally friendly. But critics argue the
courses still aren't free of environmental liability.
To protect wildlife, ACS golf courses work to provide more shoreline vegetation around water features -
to filter runoff and to provide shelter for animals - and out-of-play areas that are left for wildlife.
However, a 2000 study by the Miistakis Institute for the Rockies warns that golf courses rarely are as
wildlife-friendly as undisturbed land, noting that while "the amount of habitat alteration" does affect
how much wildlife a course will sustain, human presence will negatively impact most animals.
"Some species may be attracted to, while others are displaced from, the altered habitat on a golf
course, but as humans increase, habitat effectiveness is reduced for most species... Therefore, in general,
there appears to be very few long-term benefits to wildlife living near a golf course," states the study.
ACS golf courses also work to use the least-toxic pesticides and apply them using spot application rather
than broadcast spraying, said Zah. Whenever possible, they use pesticides in curative rather than
preventative ways, she added.
But Al does not go so far as to ask ACS golf courses to promise to cease using pesticides.
In most areas of the country, said Zah, it is not possible to have a good golf course surface without
spraying. The handful of pesticide-free golf courses in the country either have a huge maintenance
budget or a clientele willing to accept less-than-perfect conditions, she explained.
Local courses
Still, the program has prompted local courses to take some creative, and in some cases significant,
environmental measures.
At the Aspen Golf Club, director of golf Steve Aitken said the program spurred the golf course to track its
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CLIFF(good news ) David Gantt / trouts follow-up / The Aspen Tim...
water use more closely. Two years ago, the course installed a new irrigation system that saves
approximately 15 million gallons of water a year.
Next, they'll be changing their water source. Within two years, Aitken expects to be watering the course
with treated effluent, rather than with water directly out of Castle Creek.
Using the effluent on the golf course - rather than releasing it directly to the Roaring Fork River - helps
filter it one more time before it goes into a natural aquifer, said Aitken. Moreover, ceasing to use water
from Castle Creek should raise stream flow and improve the stream's health, he said.
The course also reduced its use of fertilizer and pesticides and enhanced cover for animals around the
course's water features.
Aitken says the course is getting the same results, or better, with its new environmental efforts. The
program has pushed them to become more refined in their management, he explained.
The Maroon Creek Club has planted native vegetation between its greens and designated many of those
areas as very small wildlife refuges. The areas are marked with green-tipped sticks, and in some cases
signs asking golfers not to enter them, so as not to disturb the wildlife.
The course also tests water quality in Maroon Creek at the entrance and exit to the course twice a year,
said Miller. He said water quality is actually better when it leaves - arguing that the course acts as a
filter.
Like the Aspen Golf Club, Maroon Creek has installed an efficient computerized-irrigation program that
measures, and applies, only so much water as the course needs.
Dirt = Hope
The argument that golf courses cannot be redeemed may rely upon an assumptions about what would
replace them, say golf course defenders.
"People have this idea that if [land] wasn't golf courses, it would be open space," said Zah. "And Bambi
would be playing with Thumper."
In reality, Zah pointed out, if golf courses didn't exist, the land they occupy most likely would house
buildings.
But if recent studies can be trusted, there is no question that the average golf course does have room to
improve in its environmental management. And while the ACS program may not be perfect, it can
provide some guidance and monitoring.
And Zah argues that greening golf courses can change the worldviews of those who manage them and
play on them.
She tells the story of one resistant superintendent who became a convert when "going green" ended up
improving the course and saving it money (since the naturalized areas didn't need to be fertilized and
mowed).
He's begun proselytizing and has now won several awards for his environmental activism. Recently, he
inspired they mayor of Eufala, Alabama to work with Audubon International to green the town.
"The really exciting part of the program is that it becomes a model for the rest of the community, of
what sustainable management practices look like," said Zah.
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CLIFF(good news ) David Gantt / trouts follow-up / The Aspen Tim...
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