Monarchs of the Links
How golf courses go natural to save endangered butterflies and run operations more efficiently
By Howard Wolinsky
This article appeared in the July 2020 edition of Chicago District Golfer.
Just a few decades ago, autumn skies in the Chicago area filled with orange-and-black monarch butterflies winging their way to Mexico for the winter.
But no more. Thirty years ago, about one billion of the iconic insects made the 2,250-mile trek from southern Canada to the pine-oak forest sanctuaries outside Mexico City.
It ain’t easy being a monarch. Their numbers have declined because their habitat has shrunk and traffic has mowed them over as the butterflies use interstates as flyways. There remain only 330 million monarchs now, according to wildlife biologist Marcus Gray, Director of Conservation Initiatives for Audubon International, a conservation group.
New partnerships between conservation groups and golf courses are designed to increase acreage devoted to growing milkweeds, which monarchs depend on throughout their life cycle, including laying their eggs on the underside of the weeds, larvae chowing down on the plants and adults lapping up nectar on flowers from milkweeds and other plants.
At the same time, courses are benefiting from environmentally friendly techniques that can save money that otherwise would be spent on watering, fertilizing and filling gas tanks for mowing.
Before World War II, golf courses were not particularly environmentally friendly “except for the fact that they were green spaces with trees,” said Dave Ward, superintendent of Coyote Run Golf Course, operated by the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District in the Southland. “They used a lot of chemicals, for insect control and for fungal control, that were pretty nasty because they contained a lot of heavy metals.”
But Ward said that many courses in the 1980s and 1990s became more conscious of the role they could play in the environment. In 2004, Ward grew Coyote Run into an environmentally friendly course with natural plantings of milkweeds and native flowers and grasses to attract monarchs, swallowtails and other butterflies.
Meanwhile, Gray said environmental organizations realized that encouraging courses to follow environmentally friendly practices, such as planting milkweeds in the rough, could help save the monarchs. This strategy creates a network of patches that cultivate monarchs and offer stopover on their migrations for a quick nip of nectar.
In 2018, Audubon International and the Environmental Defense Fund rolled out their Monarchs in the Rough (MITR) program. Audubon has signed up about 700 U.S. golf courses, including 51 in Illinois.
“Illinois is a hub of activity,” Gray said.
Ward, whose course is in MITR, said many more courses have developed their own environmental programs.
Gray noted that good environmental practices help reduce maintenance costs. “The whole idea is to make an operation more sustainable while it strives to meet our certification standards,” he said. “This results in water savings, chemical product use reduction, mowing frequency reduction, staff time savings, etc.,” he said.
Established pollinator plantings can save thousands of dollars annually that can be reinvested into other parts of the operation, he said.
For instance, Glencoe Golf Club, the 99-year-old course in the northern suburb, is fully certified by Audubon and is enrolled in the MITR program. Club manager Stella Nanos said her course saved $15,000 per year on water use by following such practices as introducing new turfgrass varieties that require less irrigation and fertilizer, and another $7,000 per year by reducing areas to mow and fertilize.
Jeff Gerdes, superintendent of golf at Bolingbrook Golf Club in the southwestern suburb, which is in MITR and recently applied for full Audubon recognition, said his course has followed these practices since opening in 2001.
“The large natural areas have never been irrigated,” Gerdes said. “I just reported to [Audubon] what we have been doing to promote strong environmental stewardship.”
He said the course this spring added three pollinator gardens and has plans for four more. These benefit all pollinators, including monarchs, bees, and bats, Gerdes said.
Nanos said an environmentally friendly golf course has a different look from a traditional course.
“You don’t want to have a finely manicured golf course if you’re really an Audubon friendly golf course,” she said. “We have seven acres on the golf course proper that are out of play that we let go wild. This provides a corridor for wildlife to get from the pond to the forest or from a natural area to the pond so they can move freely to avoid predators and nest and feed along the pond banks.”
Glencoe lets the pond bank grow out to encourage amphibians, insects and wildlife in general. Branches and trees stay down if they’re out of play because they provide wildlife habitat. Dead trees remain in place so birds may build nests there, or so they can serve as a food source to insects.
Glencoe staff collects monarch eggs in the spring from milkweeds planted in rough areas and transplants them to milkweeds inside a hatchery, allowing them to develop into larvae, caterpillars and adults. Monarchs are safe in the screened, British telephone booth-sized hatchery, installed in 2019 near the clubhouse.
Do golfers care about monarchs?
Ward observed that the majority of golfers at his course have their eye on the ball — not the butterflies. But he thinks that a growing minority appreciates the aesthetics of the monarchs, other wildlife and native plants.
Audubon encourages course managers to give tours annually to the public to show the steps they take to make their courses environmentally friendly. During these events, visitors are encouraged to collect milkweed and wildflower seeds for use at home.
Gerdes said Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar is committed to attracting monarchs with milkweeds planted throughout the village. “It’s gratifying to see the monarchs stop off on our course and get something to eat on their long flight to Mexico,” Gerdes said. ●
Howard Wolinsky is a Flossmoor-based freelance science writer. He was the medical reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times for more than 25 years.
Golf Goes Green
Golf’s environmental stewardship expands beyond the fostering of monarch butterflies. As revealed in the first two parts of Chicago District Golfer’s “Environmental Impact” series from earlier this year, the game’s various green initiatives will have long-lasting positive impacts on Mother Nature.
Storm Water Management
In the April edition of Chicago District Golfer, Barry Cronin examined how The Preserve at Oak Meadows worked hand-in-hand with environmentalists when embarking upon a recent $16.8 million renovation. This resulted in decreased flooding to the course and nearby community, in addition to the creation of new natural habitats for wildlife. Glenview Park Golf Club, Wilmette Golf Club and North Shore Country Club also have embarked upon similar projects with storm water management at the forefront.
Honey Bee Conservation
The presence of honey bees is a major factor in nurturing a thriving ecosystem, as Mark Rosati highlighted in the June issue of Chicago District Golfer. However, in recent years honey bee health has been threatened by a variety of factors, including Colony Collapse Disorder. Both Cantigny Golf and Medinah Country Club have placed an emphasis on cultivating of numerous bee hives, resulting in robust pollination of flowers and ample honey production. Skokie Country Club, Arrowhead Golf Club, Cog Hill Golf & Country Club and Biltmore Country club have similar programs in place.
To read these articles, visit CDGA.org and click the “Magazine” icon on the homepage.
