The ground around Sudden Valley Golf & County Club’s turf maintenance facility is a mixture of sand and mud. The musty garage smells of freshly mowed grass and gasoline.
Year after year, golf course superintendents use chemicals to maintain a high-quality and aesthetically pleasing playing surface. Faced with high expectations from golfers, superintendents apply fertilizers and pesticides to stimulate growth and eradicate "pests." When used in excess, these chemicals can have harmful effects on nearby bodies of water. Golf course maintenance has come under increased scrutiny from environmental agencies,leading many superintendents to adopt more environmentally conscious practices.
When dealing with the chemicals, superintendents who have adopted such tactics focus on protecting water quality.
The Environmental Protection Agency defines appropriate use of fertilizer as no more than 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet for a given application.
Fertilizer is typically mixed with three parts nitrogen to one part phosphorus to three parts potassium.
Most fertilizers golf course superintendents use contain phosphorus. When used in excess, phosphorus-based fertilizers can speed up a natural process known as eutrophication. This occurs in aquatic ecosystems when high nutrient concentrations result in algal blooms. Rapid growth of algae can shade the water below, effectively killing subaquatic vegetation other organisms rely on for food and oxygen. As the algae die, the decomposition process consumes oxygen from the water, often suffocating other aquatic life such as fish.
When the algae begin to bloom, concerned citizens and environmental advocates begin to look for potential sources. The Sudden Valley Golf & Country Club and residential lawns are common suspects for increased levels of phosphorous in Lake Whatcom, a drinking water source for 85,000 residents.
Most of Whatcom County’s 14 courses are near bodies of water, wetlands and streams. Bellingham’s Sudden Valley course is one such course, draining its runoff into Lake Whatcom.
"The concern is that too much phosphorus leads to increased algal blooms, which decrease oxygen," said Tim Paxton, president of the Clean Water Alliance, an advocacy group for Lake Whatcom. "The golf course was specifically exempted from the phosphorus ban. It would be nice to not have a scum-covered pond providing our drinking water."
The superintendent is responsible for all decisions regarding turf care and management and decides how much fertilizer and pesticides to apply and when. No governmental agencies monitor golf course water quality. The only requirement for golf courses is to have a state-licensed chemical applicator on staff, usually the superintendent.
Although most intensely treated, the greens make up approximately 2.5 acres of a 130- to150 acre course. Bryan Newman, superintendent at the Sudden Valley Golf course, said he sets his thresholds at no more than 6 to 9 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet each year for greens and 2 to 6 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet each year for fairways. These levels are typical for courses in this county and are lower than the EPA’s recommended nitrogen levels.
"I don’t like the perception that what I do is detrimental to the environment. I don’t consider myself a polluter," Newman said. "I consider this perception to be one of the few bad parts of my job. Golf courses do a lot of good for the community and the environment."
Paxton and Newman illustrate the rift in knowledge between environmental advocates and golf course superintendents. Though representing opposing sides of an issue, neither claims to be an expert on the other’s cause and both said they feel they provide important services for the community.
Audubon International organized the Cooperative Sanctuary program in 1991 to educate the public on golf course maintenance practices and to encourage course managers to use environmentally friendly techniques. The program requires an approved environmental testing organization to check water quality of all bodies of water on a course. The organization must test streams running through the property at points before and after the course.
"Once we have worked with a course and buffers have been put into place, we find the water is cleaner when it comes out than when it came in," said Joellen Zeh, the program manager for Audubon International. "(Our program) works with courses on an individual basis to protect and sustain land, increase natural habitat off-course, conserve natural resources and reduce the use of fuels and chemicals."
Zeh said she recognizes the pressure on golf course superintendents to keep a pristine course. She calls this the "Augusta syndrome," referring to a prestigious course where professional golfers play the Masters tournament, one of golf’s biggest events.
"People see these tournament courses on TV and ask, ‘Why doesn’t our course look like that?’" Zeh said.
Given these expectations, Zeh said the organization tries to ensure the course superintendents they work with are striving to use environmentally conscious methods.
Bellingham’s Avocet Environmental testing center provides water quality testing for Semiahmoo Course. The testing detects the presence and amount of such chemicals as nitrogen and phosphorus. This is a good indication of chemical levels in groundwater and runoff, said Robert Mitchell of Western’s geology department.
In November 1993, Semiahmoo became the first course in the state that the Audubon International certified for its sanctuary program. To qualify, Vance Much, superintendent at Semiahmoo, planted more than 500 native trees and let the "rough" areas of the course grow back to return 10 percent of the course to its natural state. Much, an Oregon State University graduate, said many of his classes focused on the environment in his horticulture program.
"I am an environmentalist, I love the outdoors, and I have kids, you know," he said. "Why would I want to put dangerous chemicals into the environment?"
Paxton and other environmental advocates are wondering just that.
Though golf courses raise many environmental concerns, ranging from water quality and availability to wildlife displacement, a new trend among many golf course superintendents is toward more sustainable and environmentally conscious methods. In an effort to eliminate the negative perceptions of golf courses, Much and other superintendents are seeking further education to manage their courses in ways that makes sense for both the environment and the game of golf.