Monthly Feature Hosted By:
	David Phipps, GCSAA Class A member at Stone Creek Golf Club, Ore.

After the Golf Course Superintendents Association asked me to help with this project I wondered, “how I was going to get superintendents from around the county to write stories about their environmental success stories.” To my surprise I found it quite simple. This has been a wonderful experience for me in that it has really opened my eyes to the great things that superintendents are doing for our environment.

Starting with our first case study, Peter Lund, CGCS at Rhode Island Country Club went from a conversation with a local writer about how his golf course could potentially be adversely affecting a fish population to orchestrating a $6,000,000 project. The project includes the repair of a flood control gate and the removal of non native/invasive plant material. The subsequent work will deepen a channel which runs through the course and will fix their hydrological drainage problems.

You may recognize Peter; he was a co-recipient for the 2005 GCSAA Presidents Award for Environmental Stewardship. He was honored for his involvement with Save the Bay, an organization that helps educate, protect and restore habitat on and near golf courses in the state. Along with serving on the Rhode Island Golf Course Superintendents Association board of directors, he is also the ambassador for the Rhode Island Golf Course Superintendents Partnership, a group dedicated to teaching golf course superintendents the importance of environmental advocacy on golf courses.

You will see that Peter has taken a negative perception and turned it into a win-win for all sides of the environment. Please take some time and follow this story to the EDGE and see how Peter has embarked on this project.

We appreciate Sam Whitin, the project manager, for submitting the case study about Rhode Island Country Club and this very significant ecological restoration project. If you would like to tell us about your environmental stewardship efforts, please contact me by email at dcphipps@bctonline.com or by calling (503) 518-8873 at Stone Creek Golf Club, Oregon. Superintendents, who submit a case study are eligible for 0.25 service point.

January's Guest:
	Peter Lund, CGCS at Rhode Island Country Club

"It all started when Andy Lybski from Save The Bay came by the club to talk to me about a salt marsh clean up and restoration project he needed help with on the ocean side of the course which is includes holes 16,17,and 18. He needed access through the course to be able to reach the marsh. After they cleaned the marsh the club paid to have a container brought in to remove the debris.

Also, a local writer for the Echo Watch article that is printed in the Barrington Times contacted me to discuss the possibility of the golf course causing harmful effects to the water feature that ran through the course. At that time he explained what the fish run was and also told me he was receiving complaints about the flood control gate from the local striped bass club and how it was effecting the herring species and their ability to spawn up the canal and to reach the fresh water.

Taking an interest in the problem I went to a golf and the environment conference in Orlando were I met Kirk Spading from Save The Bay and found out we had the same concerns. We started brain storming on how we could get some things restored and put in a fish ladder. I was introduced to Joe Bachand from the NRCS who took an interest in this project from the beginning. He got us started with NOAA, the wick program ect.

When the club decided to go ahead with the project we hired EA Engineering to spearhead it. Most of my work now is observation, this project is huge and out of my realm of expertise. The project's cost is approximately $6,000,000.

Once finished this will save some of our fairways from the continue effects of the tide and rain events which makes them unplayable.

This had to go to the membership to vote. They agreed to close the club on October 8th and will open it again around May 1st. Everyone is excited about the project and look forward to May 1st.