COURSE + GROUNDS
STREAMING SERVICE By Betsy Gilliland, Contributing Editor
THE GOAL: AS HOME TO A HIGH-QUALITY, extremely productive wild trout stream, Lost Creek Golf Club in Fayette Township, Pa., has provided prime real estate for the development of a plan to protect the waterway. Turfgrass scientists at Penn State University developed such a plan for Lost Creek in late 2018. The project, believed to be the first comprehensive nutrient management plan ever created for a Pennsylvania golf course, was funded by the Chesapeake Bay program as part of the Juniata County Conservation District’s restoration of the Lost Creek watershed. “The Conservation District wanted to work at a Class A trout stream,” says Tom Troutman, Lost Creek’s Golf Course Superintendent. (It’s pure coincidence that a superintendent with that surname is involved with the project.) The Conservation District contacted Pete Landschoot, Professor of Turfgrass Management at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, to develop the
plan. A nutrient management plan helps golf course superintendents keep track of the nutrient status of soils and turfgrasses and provides strategy for meeting their nutrient requirements through proper timing and amounts of fertilizer applications. Lost Creek is a high-quality trout stream in its forested headwaters. However, the waterway begins to transition to a warmer water fishery and suffer impairments from runoff as it flows through more agricultural and developed valleys before entering the Juniata River. The stream, a special feature of the golf course, supports a robust, reproducing population of brown trout. The creek enters the northeast corner of the course near the seventh-hole green, then proceeds south through a wooded area along the eighth fairway before cutting through mostly open areas on the southern portion of the layout. The creek affects play on about a third of the holes on Lost Creek, a semi-private
THE GOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE team at Farmington Country Club, Charlottesville, Va., designed a system that breaks down rock salt to be applied to roads on the club’s property before anticipated snowstorms, to both improve driving conditions for members, guests and staff, and to expedite snow removal. Two 275-gallon tanks were modified so salt could be broken down in one tank while a salt solution would overflow into the second tank (see photo at left). 40
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Position Lost Creek Golf Club to make its fertilizer applications more effective, with a new nutrient management plan that would protect the trout stream on the property.
THE PLAN:
Lost Creek opened its golf course to Penn State University turfgrass scientists, to develop a plan that would protect water quality and limit the runoff of nutrients. Scientists took soil samples to help the maintenance department keep track of the nutrient status of soils and turfgrasses and to provide strategy for meeting their nutrient requirements through proper timing and amounts of fertilizer applications.
THE PAYOFF:
With an unusually wet golf season last year, it is too soon to determine the results of the nutrient management plan. However, Lost Creek hopes to increase its fertilizer budget to apply products at the right times and rates. The program also could serve as a template for other properties to protect adjacent streams and water sources.
Salinity was then measured, and once it was found to be between 23% and 27%, the solution was transferred to spray trucks to be applied to the roads. Using the new system greatly improved the condition of the roads on the club’s property and significantly eased the snow removal process. Farmington members expressed appreciation for this new safety procedure and how it allowed them to enjoy greater access to the club, even in the most unpredictable and potentially dangerous weather conditions. www.clubandresortbusiness.com
5/28/19 8:38 AM