Conservation & Ecology I
t was July of this year that I returned to Bolton Old Links Golf Club, to where I first started my greenkeeping career fourteen years ago. However, Bolton Old Links has
its roots way back in 1891 when a merry band of very keen golfers laid out a nine- hole course on Smithills Moor above Bolton, and not on the coastal links like the name may suggest.
In fact, it was during 1911 that the name Bolton Old Links was adopted, with the links referring to a link to the original moorland course. In 1924, further land was obtained and the club approached the foremost golf course designer of the day, Dr. Alister MacKenzie, to develop the land into a formidable course which utilises the natural contours and undulating terrain by astute bunkering, as was his style. The club is very proud to say that his involvement with the course allows them membership of the Dr. Alister MacKenzie Society of Britain and Northern Ireland. As the Second World War raged, the German Luftwaffe also added a few contours of their own which, thankfully, complemented Dr. MacKenzie’s design and results in the testing layout seen today. With the move here, I faced a fresh set of challenges in regard to pushing environmental initiatives forward and, of course, a new landscape in which to ply my trade. This prompted me to write this article for those wishing to do the same by providing some of the guidelines I follow.
It covers the main areas of
Remnants of heath can be found at Bolton Old Links, including this challenging feature in front of our 6th tee
environmental concern - water, waste, maintenance and conservation - which are central to my overall goal; that is, to manage a golf course as sustainably as possible. Fortunately, the directors of the club also want to move in the same direction and are keen for me to produce short and long-term objectives that will improve the course whilst moving us to a more sustainable level. Martin George from CJ Wildlife, another advocate of the sustainability theme, was eager to set us on our way with the kind donation of several nestboxes which will be located around the course for the enjoyment of our members, whilst providing safe nesting for a variety of bird species. I was surprised to learn that a selection of the boxes were made from recycled car interiors, known as ecoplate, and the glue that binds the boxes together is made from the traditional hoof and horn rather than synthetic. The choice of glue here is important as the hoof and horn glue seems to deter Grey Squirrels from vandalising the boxes and predating upon the nestlings inside. After visiting our course for a tour, along the way dispensing some advice, Martin met the rest of the team. Here, he commented that he was surprised on how much environmental initiatives we employ could have such a positive impact upon the game of golf and that, by thinning out the long-rough for
example, we could help speed up play whilst significantly contributing to biodiversity. After the initial visit from Martin, I set to work on trying to improve the sustainability of the course and, central to this, is to formulate a good plan and, in my case, to formulate a solid EMS. This will cover the four major aspects of course management that I always consider; water conservation, waste management, turf management and nature conservation, and will eventually form a solid working document that is designed not only to provide the greenkeeping team with clear objectives but to also inform our members about the complexities of sound environmental stewardship. An Environmental Management Strategy, or EMS, is first necessary which details these objectives. In the initial stage of producing an EMS, we first need to answer the question “What have we got?” in terms of habitats and the course layout and, central to this is, to map everything we have. This map will indicate all features of the course and will include such things as type of grassland, woodland, water features, buildings etc. Creating a map can be as easy as printing off a large-scale satellite image of your course and annotating the appropriate land uses, or you could be adventurous and use a computer to create your own map. There are a few resources online where you can accurately measure distance and area, which is also handy when planning individual initiatives.
Once the map has been completed, it gives you a great visual aid that can be extremely useful when trying to communicate your ideas to the rest of your team, the club’s directors and the members. With the newly created map, I can clearly see that Bolton Old Links contains a variety of habitats that build up the character of the course. These include coniferous and deciduous plantations of various ages, heath, acid and neutral grassland, scrub, watercourses and a small pond. Each one has a bearing upon the game of golf and, in my opinion, should be managed to improve playability whilst maximising aesthetics and ecological value. By categorising these habitats on our annotated map we are able to define management strategies to improve these areas and, therefore, bring the club to a more sustainable level. The heath we have here, for example,
is a remnant of a vast swathe of heather and moorland that was present before the course was built, and is slowly diminishing through vegetative succession and reverting to scrub. A strategy for enhancing our heath is therefore necessary to maintain the upland qualities of the course. Fortunately, this is quite a simple operation and involves the clearance of a few small saplings that would eventually shade out the heath vegetation below
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013 PC 119
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