THE NEWSPAPER FOR THE GOLF COURSE INDUSTRY

A UNITED PUBLICATION VOLUME 3, NUMBER 8

AUGUST 1991

Nuisance water may be godsend

University of Nevada researchers are studying ways to use untreated runoff water 3

User-friendly EPA official urges environmentally safe golf course projects 8

'Toxo-terrorists' Exposing fancy and unveiling fact are musts of the future for superintendents 13-14

Pesticide law California superintendents come under restrictions of old agriculture regulations 13-14

2 n d q u a r t e r 1 9 9 1 c o u r s e u ¡ p d a t e

Type O p e n U n d e r C o n s t r u c t i o n 1991 1990 1990 1991 1990 1990 YTD YTD Yr-end YTD YTD Yr-end

Daily Fee 48 166 340 301 Municipal 13 — 37 88 — 71 Private 27 — 86 189 — 184 N/A — — — 3 — . 4

Totals 8 8 8 2 2 8 9 6 2 0 5 1 1 5 6 0 Source: NGF

C O U R S E M A I N T E N A N C E Audubon, courses team up to save wildlife 15 Wildlife at refuge at John's Island West 15 Greg Graham always tournament-ready 16

C O U R S E D E V E L O P M E N T Japanese stay active in U.S. marketplace 27 Las Vegas thrives in face of recession 27 Monthly update: Planned, approved courses ...36-37

C O U R S E M A N A G E M E N T Management companies do it all 41 Owners association gains members 41 Kemper signs pact 41

S U P P L I E R B U S I N E S S Bermudagrass test results released 45 Marketing conference speakers announced 46 Turfseed field days draw crowds 47

High Court ruling said 'scary' By Peter BI a is

The recent Supreme Court ruling freeing local governments to impose pesticide regulations that conflict with federal law could severely restrict the use of golf course chemicals, accord-ing to a Golf Course Superintendents Association of America official.

"It scares the hell out of me. It's

another step toward more regulations," said Charles Passios, government liaison to the GCSAA board of directors.

"It means superintendents are going to have be more pro-active than ever, participating in the process and taking a lead role to make sure our concerns are heard when towns want to pass regula-tions."

In the case of the Town of Casey, Wis. v. Ralph Mortimer et al, the court ruled unanimously June 21 that the language of the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act does not allow it to pre-empt locally passed regulations.

The decision overturned a Wiscon-sin Supreme Court ruling that FIFRA

Continued on page 23

John's Island West golf course in Vero Beach, Fla, illustrates how golf courses can be havens for plant and wildlife. For the stafy,seepagel5. Photo by KitBradshaw

Major changes expected in revisions of wetlands laws By Mark Leslie

Wetlands preservation regulations that have hand-cuffed golf course develop-ers and created long, expen-sive waits for approvals are being rewritten — and loos-ened extensively — on two fronts.

A revision of the much-ma-ligned federal wetlands de-lineation manual — used by the Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection

Agency, U.S. Fish and Wild-life Service, and Soil Conser-vation Service since 1989 — is under review and is said to more narrowly define what constitutes a wetland.

Further up Pennsylvania Avenue, congressmen have answered the call of voters and drafted legislation to correct deficiencies they see in the wetlands protection system.

Some conservationists are

angry. Linda Winter, direc-tor of wetlands programs for the Izaak Walton League, said a scientifically sound defini-tion is "being thrown out and ignored for political reasons."

One EPA ecologist re-signed and another asked that his name be dropped from the credits of the revi-sion.

But others are looking for-ward to changes.

Continued on page 28

First facilities open for handicapped By Mark Leslie

Two golf facilities built especially for the physically challenged will open within the next month, marking milestones for the country's millions of handicapped people.

In Akron, Ohio, Edwin Shaw Hospital is completing the first course in the coun-try designed especially for handicapped golfers. Dedi

Continued on page 38

End of drought won't solve Calif, woes

N E W S P A P E R

By Peter B la is RIVERSIDE, Calif. —

Water will continue to be in short supply for many years in California because of the six-year drought, increased demand from a growing population and environmen-

tal concerns, according to a Southern California water expert.

"We are going to see changes in our landscapes and maybe in our lifestyles if the shortages are severe enough and long enough,"

Coachella Valley Water Dis-trict water management spe-cialist Dave Harbison said during a recent water man-agement seminar sponsored by the University of Califor-nia, Riverside Cooperative

Continued on page 20

Grassroots anger pushes Congress into action Continued from page 1

"I think it's terrific," Landscapes Unlimited's William Kubly said of proposed changes to the system. Kubly, whose com-pany is headquartered in Lincoln, Neb., but builds golf courses around the country, added: "It's been ridiculous. We've had a 10-by 30-foot piece of land in the middle of a fairway on top of a hill declared a wetland.

"I'm all for wetlands preservation but not in those small pieces. I'd say that's (revision) good news for the golf course industry."

Kubly said the regulatory system "has really been handcuffing us out in the field. And the costs to the owners are getting so

high that it is not cost-effective to build golf courses any more in certain parts of the country due to wetlands and erosion control."

Tom Clark of Wheaton, Md., president of the American Society of Golf Course Archi-tects, said: "I'm encouraged to hear a lot of congressmen are starting to hear from their voters... People are starting to take steps in the right direction."

Rhod Shaw, an aide to Rep. Jimmy Hayes of Louisiana, who drafted the leading wetlands bill, saidthemoveisgainingsupportinCongress. By early July, 149 co-sponsors from 38 states and Guam had lined up behind the Hayes bill, Shaw said, "because ifs a grassroots issue.

Everybody's (congressmen) getting an incred-ible amount of reaction from home.

"The system's wrong. The system's bro-ken. People should get involved and let their legislators know. Reality is the greatest check for where we need to head on this."

WETLANDS DISAPPEARING At the center of the problem is the need to

preserve the nation's wetlands and to balance that with responsible management and de-velopment. Experts say the United States is losing 500,000 acres of wetlands a year, a portion simply becoming open water.

Swamps, marshes and bogs were once considered wasteland. The government en-

couraged draining them for farming or de-velopment. The Clean Water Act of 1972 changed that, requiring the owner of wetlands to obtain government permission to build.

There was little controversy until the 1989 manual took effect.

All agree nobody wants 'true" wetlands de-stroyed. Yet the issue has been clouded by lack of consistency in interpreting the wetlands manual and waits of years in some cases.

"We all want to preserve wetlands. The problem is the time it takes to get a permit," Clark said.

"I'm sensitive to wetlands issues myself," Kubly said, adding that the EPA and Corps

149 congressmen co-sponsor !'sweeping' new legislation. By Mark Leslie

Louisiana Rep. Jimmy Hayes has intro-duced legislation that he says will enhance protection of wetlands while "providing a legal system for balancing the competing interests of wetlands protection, essential community growth and infrastructure, and private property rights."

Hayes' HR1330 would "revamp the whole (Clean Water Act Section) 404 program," according to environmental consultant Mike Kelly. Co-authors of the bill are Reps. Don Young of Alaska, Beryl Anthony of Arkansas, Billy Tauzin of Louisiana and Thomas Ridge of Pennsylvania.

Kelly, vice president of Williamsburg En-vironmental Group, Inc. in Williamsburg, Va., said other bills, besides Hayes', have been introduced—including HR404 by Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt, the ranking Republican on the Public Works and Trans-portation Committee, which Kelly said has a good chance of passage. "But the Hayes bill is the most sweeping."

Rhod Shaw, Hayes' chief of staff and leg-islative director, who has worked on the legislation for three years, set out to correct

Rep. Jimmy Hayes

deficiencies in Section 404 such as its "bu-reaucratic morass for private landowners and local governments"; its ignoring of "basic, fun-damental rights of pri-vate property owners"; its covering of privately owned lands that pro-vide "minimal wetland functions and values at best"; and its failure to provide incentives and flexibility "to encourage landowners and wetlands users to act responsibly and invest in wetlands restoration, enhancement and preservation."

Shaw said: "Current 404 law is not a man-agement program. It does not get at how you can actively manage, conserve and handle the property. And it does not recognize that you have to have some kind of balancing mechanism to allow central community growth to co-exist with environmental pro-tection."

Noting that 60 to 70 percent of the Ameri-can population lives within 50 miles of the coast, he added: "We have people living there,

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"We have to start making some pretty tough decisions. That's where HR 1330 re-ally comes about."

HAYES' "FIXES" A key element of Hayes' HR 1330 is classi-

fication of wetlands according to their values "because not all wetlands are created equal," Kelly said. Shaw calls it "narrowing the juris-dictional scope of the program to functional wetlands."

It also aims to immeasurably speed up the approval process; unify the program in the Corps; provide that preventing development of a highest-classified wetland is considered a "taking" for which the landowner must be compensated; and encourage states to estab-lish programs meeting Corps approval.

Under HR 1330, wetlands would be classi-fied under three types. The first would be regulated more strictly than current law. The second would be regulated at the same level. The third would be regulated on a limited basis.

Stressing that HR 1330 is "a discussion vehicle," Shaw said he does not expect the EPA to give up its share of jurisdiction of wetlands and the veto power it enjoys. He simply wants to instigate discussion on the speed of the process.

"Right now we have two federal agencies review an application at two different times, rendering two different decisions. We need a way to make a decision at one time," Shaw said.

SPEED HR 1330 states that after a prescribed

short timeframe, if no action has been ren-dered by the agency, the permit will be as-sumed to be granted.

'The environmental community is saying, They'll let everything be developed.' The development community is saying, They'll deny everything to cover themselves.' Both sides have a valid concern. I see them denying a lot... But, that's fine because the developers who are waiting seven years never get an answer. At least here, a 'no' is better than waiting, because they can reapply and resubmit, and this time they know why the application was denied," Shaw said.

STATE LAWS The bill would allow and encourage state

laws, but those laws would have to be ap-proved by the federal agency in charge. This would put an end to the situation that Geo-science Inc. President Larry Hawkins re-ferred to when he said: "We in Florida have

the feds to deal with. We have the state to deal with. We've got a water management district to deal with — and even the county govern-ment, which may be more stringent than all three.

"The key to this whole issue is to try to get some consistency in wetlands definition that serves all four interests, right down to the local government."

The "taking" issue is another that will bring debate. Kelly said: "It will give lawyers work. The Hayes bill sets up more lawsuits if you do have wetlands classified as high value on your property. It sets up compensation if you can't develop."

STRICT SEQUENCING Another point of debate will likely be what

legislation terms "strict sequencing." "Here we clearly diverged with the envi-

ronmental community," Shaw said. "In 1989 the EPA and Corps signed a memorandum of agreement on strict sequencing. When you get an application for a permit today, the very first thing we look at is, can this person avoid doing the project in a wetland? So you're told you can't do something on your property even if you don't have the financial where-withal to buy another property or use another alternative."

MAPPING Consequently, the EPA or Corps have be-

come planners, not regulators, he said. The Hayes bill also proposes national map-

ping to determine wetland areas. This would help prospective landbuyers by letting them know before they buy if a property contains wetlands.

But it would be a project of massive ex-pense and, Shaw said: "I don't expect it to be passed. We just wanted to give people the idea to discuss.

"A lot of tailoring needs to be done to it-Current law isn't working. We're losing 500,000 acres of wetlands a year, anyway. The environment clearly isn't benefiting un-der current law. And God knows, local com-munities don't think they're winning under it.

"When you're 0-for-2 on both sides of the fence, maybe it's time to rewrite the law. So we have given 1330 to people to look at and question, 'What do I think about the idea that all wetlands aren't created equalfor regulatory purposes. Maybe classification is the way to go. Maybe we ought to look at private land-owners' rights. Are we going to compensate them when we take their land for the 'greater good'?

"We've got people going into bankruptcy because of this."