City golf courses face the ash tree epidemic

Thespec.com
Aug. 17, 2015
By Lindsay Fitzgerald

Hamilton's three city golf courses will remove up to 1,000 ash trees in the next three years due to the emerald ash borer (EAB) crisis, a beetle devastating ash tree populations across North America.

Last fall, the removal of ash trees began on the city's largest course, Kings Forrest, which spans more than 120 hectares along the Niagara Escarpment.

But the 40 ash trees removed were a pinch of the 417 ash trees found in a recent assessment of the Kings course, conducted by the Davey Tree Expert Company, where there are an estimated 4,000 trees.

The assessment also identified 520 ash trees on the two Chedoke Golf Courses.

On all three courses, the assessment found 30 per cent of the ash trees are already dead. The majority of the 1,000 ash trees are expected to die.

The EAB crisis has caused a devastating set of ecological and financial issues for cities across North America, including the City of Hamilton, which is expecting to remove up to 23,000 street ash trees in the next 10 years.

Yet, for golf courses, experts say the ash removals may prove to be an advantage.

"Removing the dying ash trees is a benefit for some areas of the course. There is no doubt about that," said Chris Anker, the city's golf course superintendent.

Anker said the city's golf courses have a "strict" tree management program in place but are not exempt from the widespread issue of overgrowth on golf courses across North America, which golf experts say is causing an "epidemic of turf problems."

As many arborists and golfers know, turf grass is a sensitive creature, needing a minimum of four hours of morning sun.

For golf courses, overgrown tree canopies can block visibility and air circulation pertinent to the game, while too much shade can also hurt the condition of the turf, increasing the amount of pesticide and water required.

Anker said the city's courses will "strategically" re-establish the growth elsewhere, where it's not overgrown, but he has yet to say when or where the removals will begin.

Many avid golfers may be concerned about how removals will affect playability.

Yet Rob Gatto, manager of the city golf courses, said the ash tree removals will happen in stages to minimize the effects to playability.

"We will be replanting in areas that are more strategic to the golf course, enhancing the beauty but making it easier for us to grow turf," he said.

"Beauty," however, is what experts say has created the tension between turf and tree populations.

Dave Otis, regional director of the U.S Golf Association Green section, said the widespread overgrowth he sees on golf courses in Ontario and in the United States is due to the way trees were originally planted.

Locations for golf courses built between the 1920s and the '50s were intentionally chosen for their topography, with rolling hills and wide-open space, said Otis.

"Early architects did not believe trees belonged on golf courses, and they usually chose farmland because it was already cleared," he explained.

But, from golf's earliest days, golfers wanted to plant trees on courses.

And, as the beautification of courses became a priority, trees became the go-to item: "Look, there's an open spot, plant a tree," Otis said. "There was no thought as to how that tree would grow."

It wasn't until the 1980s that there was a paradigm shift for the tenuous relationship golf has with trees, Otis said. Heads of golf courses began to realize they chose poor species of trees and poor locations.

Today, Otis said tree removal is "absolutely essential to the improvement and survival of golf courses in Canada and the North Atlantic. We cannot grow healthy, reliable turf in shaded, pocketed environments."

This is why Chris Deathe, manager of the Davey Tree Expert Company, is calling the ash tree removals an "opportunity to rethink golf courses."

"We're finally getting the right tree and the right design and thought by the city arborist," he said.

The replanting on golf courses is expected to be executed with 18 to 20 kinds of stronger species, said Deathe, adding a level of diversification that is not seen in city landscapes.

"The whole canopy in Hamilton and Burlington will be a healthier and stronger canopy," he added.

Yet funding plays a large part in tree management for the public courses.

When ash tree removals began last October on the Kings Forrest Golf Course, an estimated $35,000 was spent to remove 40 trees, said operations manager Chris Anker.

The city has an EAB program with money set aside for tree removals, spending more than $1.6 million on street ash tree removals so far in 2015.

The city's golf courses, however, are not included in the designated EAB funds.

Since 2004, Anker says the city courses have been financially autonomous and self-sustaining.

But, with the necessary and unforeseen removal of ash trees, Anker says they are hoping the city will contribute.

"That's why we did this inventory, so we could see the cost analysis," said Anker. "We're hoping we can present it and get some money from the EAB program."

The cost for the upcoming 1,000 removals cannot be determined until they consult the city.

For public golf courses, tree removal has also been more of a complicated process, as Hamilton's courses have to consult with the Niagara Escarpment Commission in certain circumstances.

Private golf clubs, however, have been removing trees in the thousands, diseased or otherwise, as numerous experts have observed.

"I know that courses are having issues with their trees," said Garry McKay, director of the Stanley Thompson Society.

But McKay says all golf courses tend to be skittish about talking about how many trees they're cutting down because they fear a negative reaction from the public.

Both public and private courses have to abide by their municipalities' bylaws but, on city courses, removals don't happen as often as they should, said Ian Andrew, architect and golf design expert from Brantford.

"Municipalities prevent removals that need to take place when golf courses are part of green space of the city, seen as making up for a lot of deficiencies, and it's unfortunate," he said.

Andrew was a consultant to the restoration of the Highlands Links Golf Course a few years ago, located in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, and owned and operated by Parks Canada.

Yet Andrew said, because the course was not permitted to remove trees for a decade: "The forest encroached to a point where they were losing greens on a regular basis. And they weren't getting the visitors they once did."

In 2012, Highlands Links ended up removing 3.2 hectares of trees to restore the course to its original landscape said Andrew.

Much like Kings Forrest, Highlands Links was considered one of the "Top 100 golf courses worldwide."

Removals on the city's three courses are expected to start in the fall, but that depends on how the consultations go with the city says management.

"What it comes down to is what needs to be removed now, and what can wait," Anker said.