[JNagle]

I wanted to start a new link regarding stream work on golf courses because some may not be tuning into the Bedford discussion and this topic is of some importance for a number of exisiting clubs.  

The included photos are from the work that was completed at the Bedford Springs Resort and more specifically Shobers Run which is the stream that winds through the course.   Below is a description I wrote in the Bedford discussion.

As for the stream, I am not sure how much Ward was involved, I could be wrong.  The main individuals from Land Studies were Mark Gutshall, Jim Baney and Andrew Donaldson.

Here is a brief summary of thier work.  In the colonial days a mill dam was placed just below the Springs property for the purpose of timbering the area.  The mill happens to be Naugle's Mill (my German brethren).  Anyway, as the area is timbered and soil is exposed the run-off, silt, deposits into the pond that is created with the creation of the dam.  The silt lifts Shobers Run out of its natural gravel stream bed, perching the stream anywhere from 1-8' above the orginal bed.  Once the mill dam is non-functional they break the dam, the pond waters begin to flow back into stream form and now you have a floodplain that does not match the waterway and a stream that is above its natural bed.  As years went by the Springs come in, the golf course is built and we find a stream that is highly eroded, floods often, and is now in a severe state of decline.  Our first thought is to put a band-aid on the stream (i.e. lay the slopes back, use gabions - all the things many, and I mean many clubs have done wrong over the years).  Well, I grew up in Lititz and have known of Land Studies since my time as a Landscape Architect in Lititz.  Anyway, I told Ron of Mark Gutshall and he remembered Mark from other conversations.  We had the "creek geek" out to Bedford to meet the owner and others.  He dug a couple of test pits adjacent to the stream some eight feet deep.  Anyway, he jumps down into the pits and pulls up pieces of trees, gravel and other debris that have been encapsulated for 200 + years, pretty cool.  That help sell the project.  Next, we had to get the budget increased by close to 3/4 of a mil.  Done!  Once the owner knew flooding and CLOSURE of the course could be an issue, it was an easy sell.  The stream bed wsa modified, over 1 mile in length.  Shobers Run and its tributaries impact 12 holes at Bedford, so it definately needed to be addressed.  The final outcome is a beautiful flowing stream with pools, riffle areas, small falls, wetlands....  Just a tremendous addition.

I will get some pictures posted in coming days.

Land Studies has a unique approach to this process on golf courses, they let the golf course dictate design.  Mark is doing all that he can to understand what must happen on an existing course and retrofit their design's into the course.  He has worked or is working on seven different cleint's of ours.  I simply would not look to anyone else.

Mark Gutshall and I do some duck hunting and fishing together and he has mentioned the opportunities that may exist for courses to capitalize on state and/or federal funding to fix drainage, flooding and erosion problems that may be occuring on their courses.

Mannies, Saucon, Lehigh, Brookside, Whitford, Avenel, CC of New Canaan, Bedford and others have looked at Land Studies for help.

The floodplain at Bedford was confined to an average width of 20-30 feet.  The conveyance width needed to be nearly 80' to handle the volume and to keep water off the course.  One month or so after completion there was a large rain event that in the past would have closed the course for days.  Not now, it just barely breeched the decking on the bridges.  The mounds you see in the photos, along with greensites and tees were created and raised to help get rid of all the fill.

The following are photos of the stream prior to the work being completed.






You can still play out of the hazard, although not recommended.  Just missed my par putt!


"Oldham" the 2nd hole that dates back to the 1895 course.  We requested that Land Studies not modify the stream location along this hole because the hole is original to the 1895 course.



Naturalized area between 1 and 18


Natural area between 1 and 18 from #14 tees


Overall aerial view of stream meandering through course






Old stream can still be seen adjacent to silt fence right of floodplain.


This photo is of what was the 17th hole that was added in the 70's.  Stream was relocated into this area creating a huge wetland and pool area.


Mark Gutshall explaining to the owner what has happened and what can be done.

[Mike_Cirba]

Jim,

Thank you very much for starting this thread.   I believe this will help clubs understand what is now possible, rather than doing the same old "dig out and pray" that has been the standard modus operandi over the years.

[JNagle]

I forgot to mention one important component to this whole thing - Frontier Construction.  They were the golf course contractor and also did the stream work.  First time they ever did anything like this.  Did an amazing job.  Jim Baney from Land Studies held their hand in the beginning but they caught on quick.

[TEPaul]

Do you guys see that person in the middle of that photo in the stripped shirt?

He has that look on his face and I guarantee you he's thinking about the natural aesthetics of some underground grotto in Austria!

Jim:

Very neat thread here. Ran should like this one.

I was going to recommend that GMGC redirect the stream on the 3rd hole to create more distance differential on the tee shot but I didn't want to go through all the red-tape and environmental stuff so I asked Gil if he could just do it in the middle of the night and he agreed.

However, I think this thread of yours has convinced me there may be more to it than just that.  

[wsmorrison]

And of course you know who is standing to the right of that Forse of Nature...his right hand man Jim Nagle of the Lititz, Pennsylvania Nagles.  Lititz is just down the road from Intercourse, Bird in Hand and Blue Ball.  Lititz in German means, well...never mind  

Excellent thread, Jim.  These sorts of presentations are very helpful.

[Mike Sweeney]

This is out of my comfort zone but I would assume the Enoree River at Musgrove Mill would be a case study. It is my impression fom the poster know at Turboe that the Enoree is an on and off problem at MM.

[Art Roselle]

This is a topic near and dear to my heart.  Charlotte Country Club just reopened after a restoration by Ron Prichard and an important part of the project was a restoration of Briar Creek, which runs through the course.  Charlotte is a Donald Ross course which opened in 1910, along Briar Creek on the East side of town.  In the mid 60s, due to flooding problems in the city, the Army Corps of Engineers recommended a "channelization" project for Briar Creek, which effectively made it the flood run-off valve for a large chunk of the city.  These channelization projects have lots of problems, but serve their purpose.  The environmental sciences department at UNCC describes it this way:

"Channelization is one of the most common solutions to urban drainage problems, despite the fact that channelized streams are frequently morphologically unstable, biologically unproductive, and aesthetically displeasing. There is increasing empirical and theoretical evidence to suggest that channelization may be counterproductive unless channels are designed to prevent the bank erosion and channel silting that often accompanies stream dredging."

Apparently, Briar Creek had all of those problems and to prevent further erosion, the city installed riprap along the creek walls in the mid 70s.  While this may have helped with erosion, it did not do much for the aesthetics or the debris problems.  After heavy rains, the creek through the course would have basketballs, beer cans and all sorts of other trash stuck in among the riprap rocks.  In addition, the riprap itself was fairly ugly.

Here is an overhead shot of what the creek looked like before.  It certainly was not natural looking




Due to the drainage and erosion concerns, it took some effort to get approval to remove the riprap and use a different approach that would be more natural and aesthetically pleasing.  As described by the engineering firm,  "The project also included enhancement and re-construction of approximately 1,500 linear feet of Briar Creek.  Channel enhancements included removal of riprap lining, installation of in-stream structures, bank grading, and extensive planting for stabilization."  

This involved the construction of "benched" areas above the normal creek level which could be planted with various grasses, but still handle the overflow during times of heavy runoff.  Today, the grasses have not grown in yet, but the entire look of the creek areas has been dramatically improved.  I expect that once it is fully grown in, it will have a look somewhat similar to the pictures Jim provided from Bedford Springs

Construction of benched area on #12


#13 during construction, but before the removal of the old creek lining.  You can see the look of the old riprap.


Work on #13


New look with wall and benched area


In addition, to the Briar Creek project, Prichard uncovered portions of some older tributaries and brought them into play on the course.  The most dramatic of these is on hole #6, where a small stream had been completely piped and buried beneath the fairway

You can sort of make out where the creek path use to run diagonally from just short of the fairway bunkers across the fairway



Now, the creek is in play along that line and was constructed with a very natural look with some rock and rolled turf (a little hard to  see from this angle, but I could not get a new enough aerial picture)




Overall, it has turned out great and will only get better as the native plants grow in.  It shows how important even a small creek can be to the overall look and feel of the course.  Prichard and the engineering team did a great job coming up with an alternative that worked for both their vision and the Army Corps.  Thanks to Tom Epps for some of the pictures

[JMorgan]

And of course you know who is standing to the right of that Forse of Nature...his right hand man Jim Nagle of the Lititz, Pennsylvania Nagles.  Lititz is just down the road from Intercourse, Bird in Hand and Blue Ball.  Lititz in German means, well...never mind  

Excellent thread, Jim.  These sorts of presentations are very helpful.

I thought Lititz were just down the road from Virginville, and all roads then lead to Route 30?   Oh, never mind.

[John Moore II]

I think that creeks, rivers, channels, whatever you want to call them add a lot to a golf course. First, it gives water somewhere to go, not simply a pond, And they add a lot of character to a course when done right. In that case, if they are done right, you really can't go wrong.

[JMorgan]

Jim, Art, what kind of vegetation was used in your projects?

[Art Roselle]

Jim, Art, what kind of vegetation was used in your projects?

I am not sure of the exact species, but I can find out.  I know there was a lot of work done to figure out what would be sturdy enough to hold up to heavy rains and provide some of the same erosion stability that was formerly provided by the rocks.

That is an interesting side story about Charlotte though.  They originally wanted the bunkering to have a rougher, "natural" look with longer grasses growing on the faces.  However, they determined that there were no grasses native to this area that would provide that look (or probably even survive well).  So, they stuck with the cleaner look of the Bermuda that you see on those last couple pictures. I guess it would not really be a "natural look" if none of the plants required appear naturally in the area.

[JNagle]

Land Studies has an interesting approach.  Areas directly adjacent to the stream were sodded.  They retrofitted a skid-steer and would take large sections of sod 3-4' wide, 5'-6' long and 4-6" thick.  THe heavy grass still had a good root mass and was heavy enough to stay in-place should a heavy rain event happen.  As for the floodplain areas I will get the specifics.  Floodplains were planted with milkweed, sedges, Joe-py-weed, rush, bulrush and others.  Wetlands were planted with Sedges, Red top, rye, wild rye, marigold, switch grass.  Trees and shrubs planted throughout were Red Maple, birch, redbud, black willow, oak, sycamore, dogwood, pepperbush, elderberry.......

Much like golf architects will "clump" native material into a bunker or mound, so to do these guys.  Take big clumps of native matrial and place it just so.  Interestingly, a student at Franklin and Marshall College is working with Land Studies to determine if when these project are undetaken and the soil is disturbed if in-fact dormant seed mixed with the buried silt and stream bed will actually germinate again.  I may have that wrong, but this is what I understood his study to be.  Imagine that native plants adjacent to a stream 200-300 years ago flourishing today.

Pretty cool stuff.

[Bruce Katona]

This is a subject very dear to my heart as I very involved in our companies stream restoration work on the only native trout stream located in South Jersey at Pine Hill Golf Club.....the restoration was was included in the projects permitting requirements.....to date we have rstored more than a 1000 feet (could be more than 1/4 mile) of trout stream habitat.

We worked with Jim Gracie of Brightwater, who is located in Ellicott City, MD (www.brightwaterinc.com).  Jim Gracie is very well informed on the latest rules and regs regarding stream restoration work at both the state and federal level.  It would be a pleasure to work with Jim and his staff again on another project.

[Peter Zarlengo]

Stream restoration on golf courses is a great step towards creating more ecologically sustainable landscapes. I have been fortunate to observe two stream restorations, with very different goals.

First was with Orvis Shorefox, where the goal was to repopulate the river with the Native Colorado Cutthroat Trout, for obvious reasons. The stream restoration company (I'm blanking on the name) is restoring a portion of the Colorado River as it exits Rocky Mountain Natl. Park that had been channelized and undergone eutrophication through years of ranch use. The river borders only one hole on the golf course.

The second was at the State College (PA) Elks Club, where Clearwater Conservancy enhanced parts of Spring Creek through the golf course after the stream was deemed unstable in its support of aquatic life. The first step was to create riparian buffers to help purify the runoff as it entered the stream.

Sometimes the most obvious solution, such as adding a small buffer of native, riparian plants can immensely improve stream quality.



Establishment of riparian buffer in tributary stream.

And for those interested:

http://www.cfiglobal.com/articles/Orvis.html

http://www.clearwaterconservancy.org/CWC%20files/Elks%20story%20lighter%20color.pdf

[JMorgan]

One of the things that interests me about golf courses in the US is that they seem to mirror our conventional ideas about the appearance and style of our landscapes, where the preference is for well-spaced trees over grass or groundcover without a middle layer of understory and shrubs -- except when hiding the foundation of some structure.  I could see an argument being made for restoration of this native layer at certain places on the course and serving dual purposes:  as a trade-off for tree removal, particularly in cases where a club membership is loathe to remove trees, and as mitigation for increasingly stringent environmental standards.

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