Native areas

Native or natural areas can be seen at many different golf courses and come in many different styles. These areas are positive for many reasons: wildlife habitat, beauty, reduced mowing for maintenance, and more. However, there is a difference between low-maintenance and no maintenance. In the past, the native areas at Bretton Woods have been closer to no maintenance than low-maintenance. This year we plan to slightly increase the time spent on these parts of the course and try to improve their look.

The native areas on the course can be seen form nearly every hole. They are out of the way areas that do not come in to normal play and have been designated as minimal maintenance locations. Native areas consist of grasses, shrubs and other plants that are native to the location. Most often, these areas are not specifically planted with any certain species, although they can be.

Golfers, the Grounds department, as well as the wildlife on the course all benefit from these natural areas. Well-maintained natural areas can add an entirely different dimension to a course’s beauty and style. There is a nice contrast between the low grasses and shrubs and the taller majestic trees when mixed throughout the course. This contrast provides different visual site lines for golfers and can break up the monotony of one solid tree-lined hole after another.

The Grounds department saves time and money by limiting the amount of time managing these spots. Because the playable rough around the course has to be mowed 2-3 times per week throughout the season, reducing the acreage of that rough can immediately impact the speed at which the entire task is completed. As we have pointed out many times, saving time in one job area directly relates to starting another job sooner. Our productivity is increased. Not only do we save time from mowing, which equals money saved, but we also save in fertilizer cost for those areas, which also equals money saved. Time and money saved is not lost, but shifted to another area of need, thus improving another aspect of the course and grounds.

Tall grasses and shrubs also provide habitat and protection for many animals. As we work towards our Audubon Certification, these native areas will be a key component to our completion. While some animals may have been displaced by the playable surfaces of the golf course, by showing that we have provided somewhere for those animals to go means that we have not completely relocated those species. The conscious effort to balance our impact on the environment, with the desire to have a golf course is a basic idea of the Audubon Golf Course Certification.

These native areas are minimal maintenance areas. For the grounds department this means we only mow these areas twice per year with a bush hog; they do not receive any other normal mowing. We also do not fertilize these spots; they grow only from what is provided naturally in the soil. We have not tried to control what plants actually grow in these native areas either. Whatever species of plants were able to establish themselves there were left alone and a natural progression took place over time. However, now, invasive weed species have begun to dominate. Because of these invasive plants, we have decided this year to start increasing the maintenance slightly. Our plan is to begin control of these species in the spring while they are young and vulnerable, so that as the desired species mature, there will be less competition from the invasive weeds. We will not be doing a major renovation of these areas and completely removing unwanted plants. Instead we will be taking a slower, more natural approach. By slowly shifting the power to the desired plants, over time, the weeds will become less able to dominate.

Although the slower approach may lead to changes being slightly harder to detect, a major overhaul would dump too much money and resources into areas that were specifically designed to be minimal input. We want to make improvements by nudging some natural changes to the native areas, not by going against the concept of what these areas are supposed to be.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org