Erosion: What can every disc-golfer do about it?

[ReedyCreekProduct]

It's a crazy idea, but what if every disc-golfer brought a one-pound bag of soil and released it onto a course each time he played it?

What about re-distribution of the dirt that is already on the course? What if every disc-golfer removed a chunk of dirt from a soil-rich portion of the course and plopped it onto the well-worn fairway?

Please tell me what little things I can do. My favorite course is full of exposed tree roots and the ground is just worn down.

 

[cjskier]

Live with it? Seriously, its not an issue. The trees will be just fine, trust me. Hitting the trees with discs a hundred thousand times, now that can be detrimental.

 

[ReedyCreekProduct]

Live with it? Seriously, its not an issue. The trees will be just fine, trust me. Hitting the trees with discs a hundred thousand times, now that can be detrimental.

I'm concerned about more than just trees. I was just pointing out how eroded the course was by using the exposed roots as an illustration. My home course is missing topsoil. It would be nice to have it back. Other people have brought up the concern of foot-traffic moving soil in a way that harms the water quality of the creeks.

There is value in making courses as environmentally-sound as possible. For a lot of people, the point of disc golf is to enjoy nature....

And if this sport grows, it'd be nice to have the environmental impact minimized.

 

[cjskier]

Not going to happen. It will just erode again. Once the erosion reaches a point, it will stop. Unless of course your whole course in on the side of a hill.

 

[ReedyCreekProduct]

Not going to happen. It will just erode again. Once the erosion reaches a point, it will stop. Unless of course your whole course in on the side of a hill.

And you have a lot of experience with this? You've studied this in school?

 

[ReedyCreekProduct]

Not going to happen. It will just erode again. Once the erosion reaches a point, it will stop. Unless of course your whole course in on the side of a hill.

No harm in fighting erosion to try to keep up a course's beauty/comfort, and avoid water quality issues, don't you think?

 

[cjskier]

I dont know, the physics of it are pretty hard, lol. You need a slope for erosion, if the slopes gone, so will the erosion. Erosion is a natural process, just try and stop it.

And yes, actually I have studied it. I have a masters in Forestry.

 

[cjskier]

Water quality? You have to be kidding me. There are a million other things harmful to out water quality before erosion in a disc golf course even come into play. We are talking a minimal amount of top soil, moving a minimal amount of distance.

 

[scarpfish]

It's a crazy idea, but what if every disc-golfer brought a one-pound bag of soil and released it onto a course each time he played it?

I'd call that a waste of time, and judging by the wind we've had around here as of late, a waste of soil. With nothing to anchor it, that dirt would be dust in the wind within hours.

 

[Three Putt]

Being in Missouri (erosion capital of the World) I get where the OP is coming from, but really it is a design issue. There are landscaping tricks that can be done in the design phase to minimize erosion. As players it's really out of our hands.

At my old home course they took out a retention pond to build a parking lot and channeled the runoff that used to go into the pond through a pipe directly into a creek that runs through the course. Once you introduced all that water barreling into that creek after a hard rain, the site was going to have erosion issues. It has very little to do with disc golf and a lot to do with a city engineer that had his head shoved all the way up his ***. I'd love for there to be something that the disc golfers can do about the damage (ten years ago the estimate that I got to fix all the damage from that, the screwed up runoff from the neighborhood at the top of the hill and the fact that the City maintenance department liked to dump excess asphalt onto the area for "stabilization" was 2.5 mil) but there really isn't anything that can be done about the root cause of the erosion by the disc golfers.

 

[Fender088]

Sounds like you're kind of stuck with the current situation. What I would recommend is to promote course development that causes less environmental damage down the road. It takes extra time and nothing is convenient about the process, but nothing about being environmentally sound is ever convenient. Sorry I have no suggestions for your current situation.

 

[DSCJNKY]

You can try to partner with the local department of transportation and ask if they'd deliver dumptrucks full of mulch to the course and then have the local club spread it in the most eroded ares.

You can also install water bars, steps, bridges, boardwalks... whatever needs to be done to minimize the impact.

The golfers themselves could try not to step on the little plants and saplings as they play. They can also try to not walk through the "ruff" haphazardly looking for lost plastic, creating multiple little social trails off the fairway.

Course designers could design courses with multiple sleeves and move the baskets constantly so that one position isn't overused... thus allowing the sleeve areas to heal a little. They could also make sure the baskets are located in places suitable for the weather (i.e. not on a steep hill after 5 days of heavy rain).

Probably more... Just a few initial thoughts.
DSCJNKY

 

[AngelEyes]

Mulching areas where the soil is already severely compacted isn't going to do much to improve the soil. If it's a steady supply of mulch, further damage can be ameliorated, but not eliminated.

Something I read that is worth considering where baskets are impacting root systems is to consider alternate basket sites. Moving a basket ten or fifteen feet for a season or two might be helpful.

 

[Chucker60]

Impressive 14 year bump

 

[wolfhaley]

So, if we can't bump threads, no matter how old what are we supposed to do?

If we start a new one, about the same topic from years ago, someone will "prerube" it.


Grow the sport? Rabble, Rabble Rabble. Get off my lawn. Shrink the Forums?

Dipshits.

 

[Chucker60]

 

[BogeyNoMore]

So, if we can't bump threads, no matter how old what are we supposed to do?

If we start a new one, about the same topic from years ago, someone will "prerube" it.


Grow the sport? Rabble, Rabble Rabble. Get off my lawn. Shrink the Forums?

Dipshits.

I can't speak for Chucker but,

I took his post at face value. Kudos to AngelEyes digging up a 14 yr old thread about the topic he wanted to address, rather than taking the easy route of starting a new thread (on an old topic).

Hell, I hadn't even seen this thread before.
As usual, ThreePutt made a good point (see post #10).