Table of Contents
Best Management Practices is a technique coined close to thirty-five years ago and entails promoting and implementing acceptable practices to protect the environment through soil and water conservation (Best management practices for the enhancement of environmental quality on Florida golf courses, 2007). The process of golf course planning ensures that the landscaping process maximizes on the process of controlling soil erosion, stream buffers leveling and maintaining the cover using water tapped during the rainy seasons. Therefore, the best management practices of golf courses helps in enhancing the process of nutrient plans, water management to cater for drought periods and through integrated pest control management that help meet the state-level best management standards (Best management practices for the enhancement of environmental quality on Florida golf courses, 2007). The golf course superintendents benefit from well-developed best management practices that enhance the efficiency of managing the facility and ensure that it meets the quality. This explains why it is a program that is appreciated and recognized by golf professionals and turf-grass scientists.
The key elements of a BMP Template and Planning Guide facilitate the process of sourcing for funds and implementing a key process that facilitate the management of the golf course through environmental conservation processes and quality standards performance (Environmental best management practices for Virginia’s golf courses, 2012). This promote the waste management, repair of leaking pipes, safety reassurance through proper storage facilities, creating paved areas and maintain the overall facility standards that conserve the environment, soil and water. Therefore, it ensures that the process of golf course planning and the landscaping process through controlling soil erosion, stream buffers leveling and maintenance is well effected to guarantee resource optimization.
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Since golf courses consist of 96% recreational space that is characterized by grass cover, wood and water bodies, the process of environmental conservation through the BMP technique is inevitable. The benefit of storing the harvested rainwater, controlling soil erosion, managing the physical and chemical properties of soil and sequestering the nitrogen and carbon level makes the BMP Template and Planning Guide a reliable tool. Therefore, a golf course represents one of the most effective and reliable recreational activity that favor environmental conservation and rehabilitation. The BMP helps in achieving this while sustaining the baseline performance of a golf course in comparison to the anticipated future performance (Environmental best management practices for Virginia’s golf courses, 2012). The soil blend, type of vegetation, the microclimate, irrigation water quantity and quality, construction material and methods, the intended purpose and the maintenance budget.
The Stepwise process of developing a BMP program for a golf course
Identifying the main contributors that may help serve the BMP committee
- Planning, designing and construction
- Proposed team of qualified experts
- Golf course superintendents
- Clubhouse architect
- Golf course architect
- Civil engineer
- Legal team
- Economic consultant
- Energy analyst
- Irrigation engineer
- Golf course builder
- Geologist
- The contributors push for the convening of a meeting by the steering committee that determines:
- Existing resource that requires management
- Environment
- Energy
- Finances
- Government restriction and regulations
- Labor
- Identify leaders to lead the initiative
- Identify key sources of funding to drive the project
- Assign responsibilities to a different person to run the process of reviewing and writing of the BMP based on:
- Selection of a site based on the stakeholder interests
- On decision strengths and weaknesses
- Existing plants, wildlife that requires protecting the site
- Create a BMP template that forms the basis for creating a BMP manual
- Identify experienced members to incorporate the regulatory and state information on the manual
- Create timelines that guide the process of BMP program development
Convening a meeting to discuss the different BMP items that the steering committee incorporated while listing them on their importance.
Engage in processes that review the BMP template and update the processes. Increase reliance on the BMP team and different consultants to complete the process of drafting the BMP draft manual
Seek feedback from major stakeholders based on the developed content
Effect changes on the BMP draft based on the stakeholder’s opinion and seek additional reviews
After developing the final draft that contains the ideas, objectives and feedback from different stakeholder and professionals, the design professionals can be engaged.
- Identify how realistic the plan is and feasibility of implementation
- Print and facilitate electronic publishing
Facilitate the process of distributing the printed or electronically published BMP manual to interested parties.
Develop a unique adoption criterion that fit the facility expectations and resources and identifies experienced Superintendents to foresee the implementation process.
Set viable goals that drive the implementation of the BMP manual.
Frequently review the content in the BMP plan based on scientific discoveries on waste management and treatment process as well as expected modification to facilitate implementation success.
The success of the whole criteria should be guided by certain management practices that favour retaining the golf course specialists such as golf course superintendent, the project manager at the beginning of the design process (Lyman, Johnson, Stacey, & Brown, 2012). The specialists help in identifying the unique features, animals and plants that require retaining. Additionally, the BMP design process should be guided by the desire to minimize alteration on the existing native landscape and avoiding animals from consuming wastes. Retaining large features of the landscape, vegetation, water sources, outplay areas and resources should be a priority for the BMP plan development team. Additional changes to the design should also complement the native vegetation while considering the opinion and desires of the stakeholders. Water lines and pipes are always laid while capitalizing on gravitational flow and changes may change energy requirements.
- Best management practices for the enhancement of environmental quality on Florida golf courses. (2007). Tallahassee, Fla.
- Environmental best management practices for Virginia’s golf courses. (2012). Glen Allen, VA.
- Lyman, G., Johnson, M., Stacey, G., & Brown, C. (2012). Golf Course Environmental Profile Measures Energy Use and Energy Management Practices. Ats, 9(1), 0.