How former golf courses are being transformed from manicured lawns to vibrant habitats.
Writing in the New York Times, Cara Buckley describes the transformation of a former golf course in Northern California, which is being transformed into a public green space known as San Geronimo Commons. The San Geronimo Golf Course shut down in 2018, leaving the land to ‘rewild’ and return to nature without landscaping or pesticides.
As Buckley explains, “A small number of shuttered golf courses around the country have been bought by land trusts, municipalities and nonprofit groups and transformed into nature preserves, parks and wetlands. Among them are sites in Detroit, Pennsylvania, Colorado, the Finger Lakes of upstate New York, and at least four in California.”
The restoration of a golf course takes more than just leaving it alone. At San Geronimo, “Floodplains will be reconnected, and a fish barrier has been removed, allowing access to more robust migratory and breeding grounds for endangered coho salmon and threatened steelhead trout. Trails are planned that would skirt sensitive habitat, making the land a publicly accessible ecological life raft, starkly different from its time as a golf course.”
FULL STORY: After Shutting Down, These Golf Courses Went Wild
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‘Complete Streets’ Webpage Deleted in Federal Purge
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Healing Through Parks: Altadena’s Path to Recovery After the Eaton Fire
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San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
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Electric Vehicles for All? Study Finds Disparities in Access and Incentives
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research