https://www.rewildingmag.com/when-golf-courses-go-wild/
"In the fields beside a suburban lake on Vancouver Island, Canada, relics from
a past life are hidden in plain sight. The land, home to a nine-hole golf
course for more than 30 years, is no longer doused with water every day or
mowed at 4 a.m. – yet remnants of its former state still exist.
A sand trap now serves as a children’s play pit, littered with Tonka trucks and
toys. The fairway, once cut to under an inch, has grass up to shin height and
rows of flowers. Old golf greens have been turned into campgrounds.
The transformation is par for the course, says Jason Cole, co-CEO of Power To
Be, a registered charity that took over the property in Saanich, B.C., seven
years ago from a couple who wanted to lease their roughly 78 acres of land. The
charity, which employs 50 people and gets most of its funding through donations
and grants, signed a 30-year lease agreement to run the property for $1 per
year. Last year, they tallied up $3.8 million in funding to support programming
and other initiatives.
Since moving onto the site, Power To Be, originally founded in 1998, has turned
what used to be Prospect Lake Golf Course into an accessible nature sanctuary
for people with disabilities. But humans aren’t the only ones who have found a
new home in nature on the former golf course.
After restoring a buried stream on the land a few years ago, Power To Be has
witnessed frogs and cattails reappear – joining migratory birds, deer and
bears, among other wildlife and plant species that are flourishing since humans
stopped golfing.
“It evolves every day, that’s the beautiful piece of working with nature,” Cole
says.
“A listening approach has been something we take to heart. What’s happening
during the seasons? How does water move through the site? How does the site
want to reimagine itself, versus us forcing ourselves on the land?”"
Via
Positive.News
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
