Environmental Impact

[mfcastillo17]

Hello everyone. Need a bit of help. I am in the process of getting approval to build a course. Does anyone have an environmental impact study of other courses that I can look at and reference when making my proposal? I know each course is in a different environment and impacts vary from place to place, but I would like to take a look at examples of different studies that have already been done. Thanks!!!

 

[bazillion]

If you don't get a response, hit up some of the designers. They should know.

 

[Hampstead]

Have you tried to contact the PDGA?

 

[Cgkdisc]

I don't know of any specific environmental studies done on disc golf courses. All that's available is mostly anecdotal comments from Park & Rec Depts. Ross Hammond had to do some due diligence in this area for the Golden Gate Park course in SF. So he might have some info that could help.

 

[mfcastillo17]

Haven't tried to contact the PDGA yet, I figured I'd get a quicker response here.

Chuck, what would be the best way to get in touch with Mr. Hammond?

 

[Cgkdisc]

Here's his Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/sfdiscgolf#!/ross.hammond.585

Here's the San Fran Club site:
http://www.sfdiscgolf.org/site-feedback

 

[mfcastillo17]

Thanks as always for your help and insight Chuck!

 

[Matt B.]

PM'ed

 

[Peterb]

probably the best example I've seen is from the Chico course. This is a pdf I found online with contact info

 

[hawk12]

I have a study

The forum won't let me upload a larger PDF, so I'll try to PM.

University of Tennessee put this out in 2011, using sone very small data samples, but the information is quite good, and points to prevention ideas that can be added to course proposals.

If anyone would like the study, please PM me you email address and I'll forward it on.

 

[mfcastillo17]

Thank you to everyone who replied! I was able to get a ton of info from that UT report. It was exactly the kind of information that I was needing. Anyone else proposing a course should read that UT report.

 

[Matt B.]

It is a good resource to have, and nice to have that document. But, it needs some interpretation when presenting it to decision makers. It essentially says that disc golf courses have an impact on the environment and it makes some effort to quantify the impact. Lacking any context or interpretation or comparison to other forms of recreational facilities however, it doesn't say much.

For instance, what is the environmental impact of a typical golf course? A typical groomed city park? A basketball court, a sports arena, a softball complex?

What the document essentially says is that disc golf courses have impacts in three main areas: soil eriosion and compaction, loss of vegetation, and tree damage. No big surprises. It attmepts to quantify through data collection the impact of compaction and vegetation loss around baskets. The results are also not surprising: the closer to the basket, the more compaction and vegetation loss.

Suggestions offered are also not surprising and are well adopted in disc golf course design and maintenance: harden areas around tees and define and harden trails, protect trees from impact damage, move baskets regularly to allow soil and vegetation recovery, and spread bark chips around baskets.

 

[hawk12]

Matt B, you are correct. But for government types, having information and a study that adresses their concerns WITH solutions to those problems is very important. No matter how simple those solutions are to experienced designers or disc golfers or even common sense - those same solutions are important to the municipalites that need responses to the environmental questions.

Its not a comparative study on the overall impacts of various sports, but a detailed and 'quanitfy' with statistics that a government repsresentative can use when discussing a new course, or maintaining an older course.

Any information we can use to help in course proposals is helpful. For example, some of this study could be quoted and reference in proposals. Sourced information in a proposal has helped me in busines, so why not in my hobby (hopefully a part time job as I gain more design and build experience).

A few others that have requested have to wait till Monday when I get to work, as I saved the study on that computer, I'll send it out to the rest of those that requested the study tomorrow or Tuesday as work allows some free time.

 

[Matt B.]

Matt B, you are correct. But for government types, having information and a study that adresses their concerns WITH solutions to those problems is very important. No matter how simple those solutions are to experienced designers or disc golfers or even common sense - those same solutions are important to the municipalites that need responses to the environmental questions.

Its not a comparative study on the overall impacts of various sports, but a detailed and 'quanitfy' with statistics that a government repsresentative can use when discussing a new course, or maintaining an older course.

Any information we can use to help in course proposals is helpful. For example, some of this study could be quoted and reference in proposals. Sourced information in a proposal has helped me in busines, so why not in my hobby (hopefully a part time job as I gain more design and build experience).

A few others that have requested have to wait till Monday when I get to work, as I saved the study on that computer, I'll send it out to the rest of those that requested the study tomorrow or Tuesday as work allows some free time.

I agree with everything here, and was not trying to say the study doesn't have value. Just that it needs to be given context and interpreted when used to support disc golf course installation and justification. In other words, read it before you hand it to someone deciding whther or not to build a disc golf course, because from a certain perepective and without context, it could convince someone that the impacts are not acceptable.

 

[hawk12]

I agree Matt, this can be used as a tool to quote and site in a proposal, not nessesarily as a stand alone answer to solving problems. There are nice & obvious solutions in there, but they are from a well know university, which lends credibility to how to deal with and PREVENT some of the environmental, soil compaction and erosion problems that can be brought up by environmental types (which I consider myself one of 'them' also).

Its more about education and understanding the topic for most...

I've spent much of the last 20 years learning tree species and the positive vs. negative characteristics, educating myself for disc and personal reasons. Yet thought only about erosion as a soil problem. This brought up soil compaction, which got me looking into this as an environmental issue, which there I've found a lot of information about all over the web and from professional landscape designers. Never thought I would become educated in these topics, but it has helped greatly in this fine state of NJ to talk tree species to a municipality and design around how I can identify to remove invasive vs. leaving healthy indigenous trees to cut fairways... Just an exapmle, but goes to show education in some of these areas makes a big difference to some in gov't that make the decisions to "give us land to work and build a course on.

 

[mfcastillo17]

More than anything, this study helped me legitimize my proposal. There are no courses in this area and the governmental entities that need to approve the design are unfamiliar with disc golf. This shows that there are some precedents for what we are trying to do here and hopefully eases their concerns about the course and shows that we are conscious of the potential impacts that it may have.

 

[Steve West]

http://www.ijsmart.eu/onlinepic/vol8_c%20Trendafilova.pdf

http://larnet.org/2011-03.pdf

 

[Matt B.]

http://www.ijsmart.eu/onlinepic/vol8_c%20Trendafilova.pdf

http://larnet.org/2011-03.pdf

Thanks Steve - good stuff.

 

[hawk12]

thank you for uploading and posting the link! I'm not that savvy using the "fancy thinking box"....

 

[Stan McDaniel]

I have no idea how to post a pdf here. If you would like to see a study done on a piece of property by our park's environmental group I would be happy to send it to you via email. So, if you would like to see it, p.m. me your email address and I will send it to you.