WILDLIFE LINKS

A new USGA-funded initiative seeks ways to promote wildlife and its habitat on golf courses.

by Marty Parkes

AUTHOR P. G. Wodehouse, who often utilized golf as the perfect background for his hilarious fiction, once described one of his characters as the type who "misses short putts because of the uproar of butterflies in the adjoining meadows." Now, with the advent of the USGA's newest environmental program, called Wildlife Links, butterflies and other creatures who live on or near courses will benefit from the first comprehensive investigation of the game's relationship with wildlife and its habitat.

This initiative is an outgrowth of wildlife research conducted by The Institute of Wildlife and Environmental Toxicology located at Clemson University. This study examined the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C., and was performed during the initial 1991-1993 phase of USGA environmental research. The Kiawah example demonstrated that golf courses could cooperatively coexist with area wildlife. At the same time, it became obvious that more research was necessary to reach suitable conclusions about these issues. Thus, the USGA stepped into the breach by committing $100,000 annually for the next three years to create Wildlife Links.

"Wildlife issues represent the one area where we haven't done significant collective studies," says Jim Snow, national director of the USGA Green Section. "So I think that's where we want to concentrate a lot of our effort in the next five to 10 years. The Wildlife Links program will allow us to undertake such research."

The program will actually be a partnership administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), headquartered in Washington, D.C. Congress established NFWF in 1984 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of natural resources -- fish, wildlife and plants. Among its goals are species habitat protection, environmental education, public-policy development, natural resource management, habitat and ecosystem rehabilitation and restoration and leadership training for conservation professionals. It meets these goals by forging partnerships between the public and private sectors.

Private contributions from corporations, individuals and foundations comprise the NFWF's annual operating budget. Federal appropriations are used exclusively for project support, and must be matched by private dollars raised by NFWF and project partners such as the USGA. The NFWF has successfully met or exceeded the statutory one-for-one match for eight successive years, and has achieved an average of better than $2 for every federal dollar appropriated.

This record of forging alliances between various groups remains crucial to the underlying philosophy of the Wildlife Links program. Many environmental and golf organizations will be encouraged to participate and lend their expertise and financial support. In that manner, it is hoped the program will grow beyond the parameters of a USGA-sponsored initiative and become recognized as an industry-wide effort.

"What we really need is allied support for the Wildlife Links program," Snow says. "It is not envisioned as an exclusively USGA program, but rather as a wildlife program for golf in general. We want and encourage other organizations to participate and allocate funds to help us conduct it. I think we would all benefit tremendously from the work and cooperation that will be gained from working with our other allied associations, along with environmental groups and agencies."

The first step in implementing Wildlife Links pertained to the creation of an advisory panel representing federal and state agencies, nongovernmental conservation organizations, universities and the USGA. Peter Stangel, director of the NFWF's Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Initiative, chairs the panel. Other members include: Jim Felkel of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Mike Lennartz, of the U.S. Forest Service; Dan Petit, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Ron Dodson, President of the Audubon Society of New York State and creator of the popular Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses; and the USGA's Snow.

This panel will undertake various tasks under the banner of the Wildlife Links initiative. Refining research priorities, preparing a mechanism for requesting proposals from qualified researchers, reviewing these proposals and monitoring and evaluating the approved projects head the list. The NFWF will take the leadership role in ensuring that research projects address the game's highest priorities and complement associated projects under way with other groups. The USGA's Turfgrass and Environmental Research Committee will give final approval to projects recommended for funding with USGA-contributed dollars.

Certain issues will receive priority. Some of them include determining how courses can be maintained as biologically productive sites for wildlife; providing solid recommendations regarding wildlife issues that can be incorporated into long-term management strategies for course planners; educating golfers and the public about these issues; and helping the game achieve recognition as a leader in wildlife planning.

Examination of individual courses within the context of their surrounding landscape remains a focus of Wildlife Links. Obviously, an urban layout may have different obstacles to overcome versus a rural course. A desert course presents a much different landscape for wildlife than a wetlands venue. Regardless of their climatic orientation, however, the loss or fragmentation of wildlife habitat and its effect on wildlife, especially birds, will be a major factor in research projects.

Golf courses, especially in more developed regions, hold great potential as hospitable areas for many species of animals and plants. The Wildlife Links program represents golf's best mechanism to examine these issues and develop appropriate strategies. In this way, future generations of golfers can help ensure that short putts will continue to be missed among the uproar of butterflies in adjoining meadows.

Some courses offer scenery both interesting and unique.