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

Bend, Oregon is a rapidly developing area and world class golf courses are becoming part of the landscape throughout the central valley. One highlight of all this development is the innovative environmental work that superintendents are doing on these properties. Most recent, the Pronghorn property has been developed near Sun River. John Anderson has done some impressive work at Pronghorn to eliminate the use of all pesticides and utilize effluent water for irrigation. John is also in the process of building a solar powered maintenance facility and pump station. These efforts will make a case study all on their own at a later time. John is just one example of the outstanding environmental prowess embodied in the golf boom in Central Oregon. Our feature case study this month is the work of Jim Ramey, CGCS at the Cross Water Golf Club. The facility is located within the Sunriver Resort community 14 miles south of Bend.

I consider Jim Ramey to be one of the environmental pioneers in Oregon. Crosswater was the third course constructed at the Sunriver community and is built along the Little Deschutes River. As you can imagine building a course close to a river would require some careful planning and significant environmental permits from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. In order to complete the construction, Crosswater was required to expand and improve existing aquatic habitat for spawning trout in the Little Deschutes as well as provide enhanced stream bank stabilization.

I first learned about the complexity of the project while attending a seminar in the middle of January 1995 at Jim’s new maintenance facility. The project was in full swing it seemed a little odd to me that they would do it at a time of year when the day time temperatures were in the mid 20’s. I soon realized that they were doing it on frozen ground to minimize the impact to the sensitive soils.

I asked Jim to submit a case study on this project now because I felt it would be interesting to look back over the last 14 years and see how the improvements have benefited the stream today. Jim has supplied some great photos showing the construction phase and how it looks today 14 years later. I encourage you to check out Jim’s case study and see what a difference a stream bank stabilization/habitat restoration project can do.

Jim received 0.25 service points for writing this case study. If you have a project you would like to document we would love to hear from you. Please contact me at dcphipps@bctonline.com or Mark Johnson, GCSAA’s Senior Manager, Environmental Programs.

October's Guest:
	Ted Wise, Fisheries Biologist, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

The Little Deschutes River Restoration and Fish Enhancement Project is an example of positive results through cooperative effort. The river and the Crosswater golf course benefited significantly from the combined effort of Crosswater staff led by Jim Ramey; Jay Bowerman of the Sunriver Nature Center and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife staff.  

Raw river banks exposed from years of misuse were reshaped and planted with hundreds of willows. The banks were then insulated from cutting flows though in-channel placement of large trees which also serve as needed trout refugia. Lastly riffle habitat was created in several reaches via addition of river gravels to attract spawning fish.

Fourteen years post project the restored sections of river have matured providing a vibrant aesthetically pleasing and naturally functioning river reach as it winds its way through the Crosswater course. One can observe beaver and river otter making their way up and down river. Neo- tropical song birds nest every spring in the riparian areas lining the riverway. Redband trout and brown trout inhabit the waterway using the areas of in-stream tree structures to avoid the eyes of Osprey flying the river in search of their next meal.