Nancy Pierce

Superintendent

Crowbush Cove

PEI

“Let Mother Nature Rule” says Crowbush Superintendent

By David McPherson

Crowbush Cove is best described by Superintendent Nancy Pierce as a golf course where nature is allowed—not encouraged—to follow its own path. The Prince Edward Island gem is a perfect example of how sound environmental stewardship doesn’t deter from the enjoyment of a golf course. Ever since opening, Crowbush has been ranked as a top course in Canada. They’ve also won two environmental awards: the CGSA/Toro Environmental Achievement Award for all of Canada (2002) and the GCSAA/Golf Digest Environmental Leaders in Golf Award (2004).

“As the course has matured I’ve discovered that, not only for budget reasons, but also for environmental reasons, less is more,” says Pierce. “I don’t try to fight Mother Nature. Instead, I go with the flow and maintain those areas that are the highest priority.”

When Crowbush was built, there were many acres seeded to wild fescue. While a lot of greenkeepers maintain it as pure fescue – spraying to keep wild flowers out, or mowing frequently to thin it out – not Pierce. “That does not allow it to mature naturally,” she says. “Now, in the late summer, our fescue areas are just beautiful when the wildflowers come out.”

Crowbush was built in an environmentally-sensitive area nestled among PEI’s sand dunes. Before they could build, an environmental-scoping study was done, which identified several components the course needed to maintain. These included the sand dunes, the wetlands and the ground water.

“The sand dunes, despite their large looming appearance, are fragile structures that rely on marram grass for their stability,” Pierce explains. “Marram grass is very susceptible to trampling damage. We don’t want people running all over the dunes because then they will blow out, so we have sensitive dune habitat signs along holes adjacent to the dunes. We also have a local rule that if a ball goes into the dune habitat you can drop a ball at the point of entry with no penalty.”

Before Crowbush was built, there were four natural wetlands on the property. The course built two additional ponds—adding to the total acreage of wetlands.

“All the shoreline vegetation was maintained with buffer zones around each one, even during construction,” Pierce says. “Buffer zones provide a visual screen between people and the wildlife, so the aquatic species have a place to hide.”

In the ponds at Crowbush you’ll find lots of muskrats, ducks, geese, salamanders, and frogs, which Pierce says are “deafening” in the spring.

Crowbush uses effluent water for its irrigation; it comes from the clubhouse and the resort and is dumped directly into the irrigation pond. Pierce says this has reduced their need for ground water by about 15 per cent. About one-third of the storm water on the course gets drained into man holes, which is delivered to the irrigation pond and reused. “For the past seven years, our ground water has been tested for phosphorous, nitrates, plus 12 known pesticides, and for seven years our groundwater has been described as pristine even though we are on sandy soil,” Pierce comments.

People come away from Crowbush happy they have experienced something unusual and enjoyable, and walked around a course that is a great example of environmental stewardship. “I always tell people we are not trying to change the nature of golf, but rather that nature is part of the game,” says Pierce.

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