Golf courses are becoming a great place to learn
about the birds and the bees.
A Portland,
Ore.-based group says that with a little encouragement, native
pollinators such as bees and beetles will easily inhabit golf
courses. Only a small percentage of any golf course is used by
golfers, and the rest has great potential for wildlife, says
Matthew Shepherd of the Xerces Society, a nonprofit organization
dedicated to the conservation of invertebrates. Recently, the U.S.
Golf Association donated $45,000 to Xerces as part of a national
effort to enhance wildlife conservation, and so far, crews have
planted native plants and erected 120 bee-boxes on three golf
courses in the Columbia River Basin. The Xerces Society says
leafcutter and Mason bees have built nests since.
“I think it has been a success so far,” says Joe
Towner, superintendent of Veterans Memorial Golf Course in Walla
Walla, Wash. He says pollinator bees don’t sting, and in his three
years of involvement with the project, he has yet to hear a
complaint from a golfer.
“Members support our
philosophy of being good stewards,” he says. Xerces plans to
establish a Northwest Pollinator Conservation Program to promote
conservation of native pollinators in Oregon and Washington. It is
part of a region-wide, ongoing education campaign in the West.
Contact the Xerces Society at 4828 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR
97215-3252, 503/232-6639, or on the Web:
www.xerces.org/pollinat.htm.
Copyright © 2000 HCN and David
Williams
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The bees’ needs.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
