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June 6, 2005
Endangered birds and birdies rarely co-exist on most golf courses. That is
unless you happen to be at Pinehurst in the Sandhills of North Carolina
during the U.S. Open June 13 through 19. While some of the best golfers in
the world are teeing off, in the long-leaf pine trees that line the course
red-cockaded woodpeckers will be busy feeding their young before they
fledge from the nest.
In May 2005, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Environmental
Defense recognized Pinehurst Resort for being the first private landowner
in the country to sign-up 10 years ago in a new and innovative program to
protect the endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers. The program is called Safe
Harbor.
After Pinehurst’s landmark agreement in 1995, landowners in the Sandhills
starting entering the program. Today there are 91 landowner agreements in
place providing habitat that supports 56 groups of red-cockaded
woodpeckers. The program went nation-wide in 1999, and today more than 320
private landowners across the United States enrolled their lands to
conserve and protect 35 endangered and threatened species. Almost 3.6
million acres of private land and 16 linear miles of stream are included in
the Safe Harbor Program
We are proud that we can do something for the survival of the
red-cockaded woodpecker, said Brad Kocher, Vice-President Grounds and Golf
Course Management. Being in the program really has not changed a whole lot
of what we do around here in our daily operation. It has made us more aware
that if we do certain management practices here at Pinehurst Resort we will
enhance the species.
Since 1995, the numbers of birds at the Pinehurst Resort have increased.
From what we have observed, the birds that have grown up on the golf course
do not seem to mind the everyday activity that goes with keeping the
grounds in pristine condition, said Pete Campbell, biologist, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service.
After a landowner agrees to the terms of Safe Harbor and signs up, they can
become eligible for management assistance and in some cases monetary
assistance through other habitat management programs both private and
federal. And, now instead of suffering penalties under the Endangered
Species Act the landowner is rewarded and assisted by endangered species on
their land.
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