Certifiable

I just heard from Ron Calhoun, the director of the Michigan Turfgrass Environmental Stewardship Program.  He was letting me know that Leslie Park has completed all of the work necessary to be re-certified in the MTESP.  This is a great program that is trying to bring the entire golf industry up to a certain standard of environmental awareness and stewardship of the land that golf courses are on.  For more information, click on the links to the right.

New bunker sand

As some of you may have noticed, we have started putting new sand in the bunkers.  This is the same sand that was put in the bunkers originally, but has darkened over the years.  We have completed the back 9, as well as 1, 2 and 3 (except the fairway bunkers on 3 and 16) on the front nine.  We will be getting a new load of sand soon and when we do, we will add the new sand to 4 through 9 as well as the fairway bunkers that have skipped.  At that time, I will also get some before and after pictures.

EPA Testing

I received a call last week from Steve Wood, the Chief Engineer in charge of engines at Toro. It seems that Kubota, one of the chief makers of engines for Toro's mowers, needed to do some in the field testing of it's engines. It just so happened that Leslie Park had some engines that fit Kubota's specifications as far as serial numbers and hours of use. Yesterday, J.J. from Kubota as well as Bill and Clark from Sensors, Inc, came to the golf course to perform some tests.

This involved hooking to exhaust pipe from the mower to a set of instruments that would measure such things as CO2, NOX, particulate matter and other parameters. These sensors were on a utility vehicle that was driven alongside the mower while it was working.

This was all done in order to verify with the Environmental Protection Agency, that Kubota's engines were performing up to the standards that the EPA has set for commercial equipment. This is a recent development, because up until recently, they did not require any testing after the equipment was out in the field. It does seem that much more of this type of testing will be going on, because air quality concerns are rising. This is one of the first times this testing has been done with equipment and engines of this size in a real-world environment. Exciting, to be sure but I would not be surprised if you will see more of this going on in the future.

Audubon International

I received notification from Audubon International's staff ecologist, Jim Sluiter that Leslie Park have achieved the first and largest category toward certification in Audubon's Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses, Environmental Planning.

"The open space of a golf course is utilized not only by golfers, but is habitat for a variety of species." explains Jim.  "We welcome Leslie Park's commitment to the environment and to managing the golf course with wildlife in mind."

By joining and participating in the ACSP, Leslie Park will be involved in projects that enhance habitat for wildlife and preserve natural resources for the benefit of the Ann Arbor community.

The next steps in this process are finishing the Wildlife and Habitat Management, Chemical Use Reduction and Safety, Water Conservation, Water Quality Management and Outreach and Education.  Once these five categories are completed, Leslie Park will become the 842nd certified property in the world and just the 13th in Michigan.

I hope to complete this before next spring.