There was unmown grass in one sand trap and wooden blocks and a toy castle in another. People were walking their dogs along the fairway, which looked unkempt. Was expected.
The grass on these fields is cut only twice a year and has not been sprayed with pesticides or rodenticides since 2018, when this 64 hectare property stopped being the San Gerónimo Golf Course and began the path to being wild again.
A small number of closed golf courses across the United States have been purchased by land trusts and nonprofit groups and transformed into nature preserves, parks and wetlands.
“We quickly recognized the high restoration value, the conservation value and the recreational value for public access,” said Guillermo Rodríguez, director of the nonprofit group Trust for Public Land, which purchased the field for $8.9 million in 2018. .
During a tour of the site, in a valley less than an hour north of San Francisco, Rodríguez pointed out the hills that are habitat for wildlife, including falcons. “On both sides there are public lands,” he said. “This was the missing link.”
The restoration is still underway. Floodplains will be reconnected and a fish barrier has been removed, allowing access to migratory and breeding grounds for endangered coho salmon and threatened steelhead. Trails are planned that would avoid sensitive habitats, turning the land into an ecological life raft with public access.
“It's a great place and it's beautiful,” said Charles Esposito, 76, a retiree who was enjoying a recent hike. “I love it”.
In recent years, the golf industry has attempted to alleviate its environmental cost by using less water, planting pollinator plants and decreasing the use of pesticides and fertilizers.
However, the resources and chemicals required for a pristine emerald turf have made the sport hated by environmentalists. The approximately 16,000 golf courses in the United States use 5.7 billion liters of water a day, reports the United States Golf Association, and are treated with 100,000 tons of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium each year.
The United States has more golf courses than any other country, accounting for about 42 percent of all courses in the world, the National Golf Foundation said. This excess supply has caused more courses to close since 2006 than they open. A return to nature is relatively rare on former golf courses, most of which end up in the hands of commercial or residential developers.
Eric Bosman, an urban planner with the design and planning firm Kimley-Horne, said 28 former golf courses were transformed into public green spaces between 2010 and October 2022.
But the number appears to be growing. However, transformations do not always occur without problems.
In Palm Springs, California, some neighbors of the former Mesquite Golf & Country Club resisted plans to restore that land, saying they preferred the view offered by a manicured 18-hole championship course.
“We once had a very nice view from the golf course to the mountains,” said Don Olness, who is on the board of directors of the adjoining condominium association. But since the Oswit Land Trust purchased the field for $9 million in 2022, the area has become overgrown with brush and dead trees, he said.
Jane Garrison, executive director of the land trust, said the pending lawsuit prevents the trust from accessing a multimillion-dollar grant. Regardless, the trust hopes to acquire more golf courses in the area.
“When the land is gone, it is gone forever once they build condos,” Garrison said. “But when you save her, it's forever.”
CARA BUCKLEY
THE NEW YORK TIMES
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