Enviormental Impact and Chico

[33tango]

I've been reading the daily letters to the ChicoER (thanks to my google mail alert, thanks for whoever clued me in), and there is talk of the damage to the trees and compacted soil. The compacted soil I'm not so concerned about, any trail causes the same thing, unless we start using helicopters to navigate the woods there will be compacted soil.

Has anyone had first hand experience with a long-lived course becoming denuded by the disc strikes on the trees doing some sort of long term damage causing the tree to die?

Does anyone have a link to the environmental impact study the people of Chico paid $650,000 to do to study the impact of disc golf on that park? This sounds like a boondoggle, a waste of taxpayer money.... but I'm not Californian and those folks can spend their money any way they see fit.

I see the damage to trees in my local course, but south georgia pines seem to me to take the impact in stride. Yeah, there's marks on the tree, but it's healthy and hearty and the tree seems none the worse for it.

[Three Putt]

http://www.khsltv.com/content/topstories/story.aspx?content_id=4c40c1bd-055b-41a5-b515-45a015604a8c

[Geoffro]

I watched the report, and it seems like the city is willing to relocate the course. It's always a tough call when weighing environmental impact with public use - whatever that use is. As to the half-million dollar-plus study the city allegedly paid to have the study done - that seems to me quite an exaggeration. If they did actually spend that much money, where do I sign up to conduct environmental studies?

[Three Putt]

I might be remembering this wrong, but I believe the land available for relocation is of the pitch and putt variety. So while a new course might develop, it would not be as challenging as the course they are losing. If it was a wash, I'm sure the course already would have been moved rather than put up with the boondoggle this has been.

[grube.fresh]

hello hippy disc golfer's stand up for our land. 5 years from now the city will sell the land to developers and the council will approve. $$$$ rules. fight the power!!!! walk lightly but walk loud!!!!

[Three Putt]

By DAVID LITTLE
Article Launched: 12/21/2008 12:00:00 AM PST

Chico prides itself on being unique. The City Council is on the verge of provoking another distinctly Chico moment.

It appears there has never been an election in the entire country over disc golf.

More than 2,700 courses have been built in the United States without controversy. Now the city that banned nuclear weapons (and became the butt of late-night TV jokes) is in danger of becoming the first to force a disc golf election.

I checked a few sources and found nothing to indicate we weren't indeed making history. Then I called the Professional Disc Golf Association in Georgia. I asked Brian Graham, the executive director of the PDGA, if he'd ever heard of an election on disc golf.

He said no.

He was so surprised to hear about what was happening in Chico, he went online to read news stories and get up to speed.

"The amazing part to me is, they've already spent $650,000 on an environmental impact report and the (park's master) plan, from what I've read. Add the cost of an election and you're looking at three-quarters of a million dollars," said Graham. "They could have bought another park and built a championship-level (disc) golf course for all that money. It seems like an awful waste of money."

Graham says the only controversies he can remember over disc golf are a couple of instances where cities or park districts tried to remove courses. In each case, he said, the cities decided to put disc golf courses in areas where undesirables had overtaken parkland.

The recreational use and increased foot traffic caused the loiterers to move on. The controversy came, Graham said, when the local agency would then try to remove the disc golf course from the newly unblighted area in favor of something else, like tennis courts.

"They'd forget the role disc golf played in cleaning up the area," he said.

But this idea of kicking out a course because a passive sport like disc golf damages the park, well, that's a first.

The fact that 28 acres of a 3,670-acre park can't be set aside for disc golf, well, that's as baffling to Graham as it is to the reported 6,158 registered voters who signed the petitions.

Of course, it's not just an election about disc golf. While City Councilor Andy Holcombe says that people were misled, the fact is they knew exactly what they were signing. Most of them could care less about disc golf. They just disagreed with the precedent of a City Council declaring that a certain group of users had to be excluded from a park.

We'll know soon whether the council will admit its error and opt for a compromise, or waste up to six figures for a special election. After the petitions and signatures were delivered to the city on Thursday, they were handed over to the county elections office. The county clerk has 30 business days to determine if the referendum is valid.

If enough signatures are valid, the council must decide at its next meeting whether to call a special election or rescind its decision.

I have no idea what the council will do. But I do know the council is softening a bit. At the meeting in November where disc golf was banned from upper park, Larry Wahl begged his fellow councilors to allow the courses to remain until the city could find another place for disc golfers to play. Ann Schwab adamantly said no.

Now Schwab, who has since been appointed mayor, seems quite pleased to note that disc golfers are still allowed to play in upper park.

Don't try to make sense of this whole episode. It will only give you a headache.

David Little is editor of the Enterprise-Record. His column appears each Sunday. He can be reached at dlittle@chicoer.com or 896-7793.

[Three Putt]

It is interesting to note that the Chico course issue has popped up on this forum and on discgolfersR.us, so a lot of casual observers of the game are aware of what is going on there. However, the Executive Director of the PDGA was unaware and needed to read up on the issue to make a comment? It does not surprise me. The PDGA focuses on "professional" disc golf tournaments. When it comes to courses (the actual things that matter for the development of the sport) we are on our own. The PDGA provides services that about 5% of disc golfers desire. For the rest of us it is pretty irrelevant.

[landon77]

Seems like a lot of goverment waste (they are good at that!), I for one will argue that being a disc golfer makes me enviromentally more aware and caring for the courses I play at. That city has some mental issues.

[borndasaur]

Seems like a lot of goverment waste (they are good at that!), I for one will argue that being a disc golfer makes me enviromentally more aware and caring for the courses I play at. That city has some mental issues.


Absolutely right! I too spend time picking up trash and generally tending courses where I play. Much of the garbage I see has nothing to do with disc golfers. Some of the courses in city parks attract a different element that people in the area wouldn't want wandering close to their backyards even though their yards border the park. Disc golf traffic discourages loiterers and their negative environmental impact. We are part of the solution, not the problem.

[Lewis]

Sounds like typical local political BS mixed compounded by typical California BS. Why do people keep electing these bozos?

[DGtourist]

"The amazing part to me is, they've already spent $650,000 on an environmental impact report and the (park's master) plan, from what I've read. Add the cost of an election and you're looking at three-quarters of a million dollars," said Graham. "They could have bought another park and built a championship-level (disc) golf course for all that money. It seems like an awful waste of money."



For people like me who can’t stand to see people be so stupid that article almost gives me a headache. We should try and milk that community out of another 100k for our expert services. Or maybe that Schwab bitch will hook me up an annual salary to slap golfers in the face and then later befriend them.

[bazkitcase5]

wow... thats about all I can say...

give a bunch of stupid people too much power and we wonder why our economy is going down the drain

[DSCJNKY]

Every disc golfer has to admit that there is an impact to the natural environment by playing the sport... both in the form of repeatedly striking trees and soil compaction or erosion. Just look around the basket of any grass course without multiple pin positions... or at the first few trees down a tight fairway... there is an obvious impact.
While studying at Humboldt State I had a class that I had to write a grant for. I decided to write a grant to test the effect of repeated disc golf strikes to trees... and the possible benefits to having multiple tee-pads and pin positions for every hole as a way to allow the environment to heal.
In Humboldt, the Redwood Curtain course is removed every rainy season for a few months so the soil isn't completely damaged and the ferns can regenerate from the years trampling. They do the same thing in Portland at Pierce Park, but instead of removing the whole course they just rotate the holes that are removed a few at a time.
If we want to keep our courses and relationships with the agencies that own the lands our home courses are on healthy, we need to comply with restrictions when they are presented and even volunteer to help with restoration efforts (I know a lot of us do), and understand the need for and support studies like the one in chico.
If we build good relationships with the parks departments and maintain and care for our courses, only good things will happen. If the chico study comes back with results claiming disc golf is bad for the environment, hopefully our relationships with the parks department can override the impact and we can work together to solve any issues... (or) If the chico study comes back with results showing no major impact, we can use the study as ammunition to apply for more courses in more parks... - and bonus - our healthy relationship and good reputation will help us gain approval. Think about it.
DSCJNKY

[ShaZaun]

I wish they would have payed me some of that money....... I've hit plenty of trees for them to study......