Golf’s green opportunities: The birds and the bees

[Cara J]

Despite the environmental benefits to honey bees and pollinators, diverse ecosystems struggle to gain acceptance on golf courses due to prevailing expectations for sterile, weed-free, mono-stands of turfgrass. As a consequence, many golf course properties are reluctant to change their management practices, and they miss opportunities to provide healthy environments for countless varieties of wildlife. To increase acceptance of varied habitats on golf courses, Cantigny Golf, located in Wheaton, Ill., and The Bee Barometer Project (BBP) are committed to promoting, demonstrating and educating the public about the importance of diverse ecosystems to support healthy environments needed by many types of fauna and flora. ©BayerBeeCare The BBP breaks down barriers of the status quo by urging golf property managers and golfers to think differently and open their minds to the beauty and value of nature in its wild state. Through educating and demonstrating the alluring art of beekeeping, the BBP seeks to encourage people already enthusiastic about golf and its environmental opportunities to move the golf community toward embracing diverse habitats on golf courses and to make them a part of solving one of the most important environmental issues of the day: sustaining pollinator health. The modern-day golf course finds itself [...]

 

Read more: http://wildlife.org/golfs-green-opportunities-the-birds-and-the-bees/