Source: Morning News (Florence, S.C.)
The gallery at Cheraw State Park golf course at times might be as natural as the course itself - a Certified Audubon Sanctuary.
The 18-hole course earned the title for its high standards of environmental management and protection. The goal is to take care of the surrounding deep forest's wetlands and to improve the golfers' experience by enhancing their natural surroundings.
And the gallery is just as natural. Among those looking on up close and from afar are white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, foxes, eastern gray and fox squirrels, beavers, coyotes, alligators and a variety of birds such as bald eagles, wood ducks and red-cockaded woodpeckers.
Rick Smith, 49, is the manager of the Cheraw State Park, which is the oldest park in the state, built by the Civilian Conservation Corp in 1934.
Among the resources that make the park special are the red-cockaded woodpecker, Atlantic white cedar, golden heather, pitcher plant, cypress swamp and the towering longleaf pines.
The 18-hole, Tom Jackson-designed golf course cuts through a pristine pine forest along the shores of Lake Juniper. It was constructed in 1992, and no two fairways are adjacent to each other.
"We started the program to become a Certified Audubon Sanctuary in 1997," Smith said. "The golf course is the 10th in South Carolina and the 464th in the world to receive this honor."
The park had to demonstrate that it was maintaining the highest degree of environmental quality in a number of areas for the golf course to reach certification.
Seven categories set the parameters for obtaining certification. They are environmental planning, wildlife and habitat management, chemical use reduction and safety, water conservation, water quality management, and outreach and education.
Smith said the park went all out to earn the designation, which took several years.
The park removed exotic invasive plant species and now uses native species in planting. It also restored habitats for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, that nests in towering longleaf pines, and installed drift net fences to determine amphibian and reptile populations.
It maintains more than 50 nesting boxes for wood ducks, blue birds, wrens, chickadees and nuthatches along Lake Juniper and Cherokee, as well as the beaver pond, golf course and others areas around the park. The park also keeps a wildlife inventory to determine what species rely on its natural resources.
The state park eliminated chemical runoff into Lake Juniper. It built a concrete pad with a catch basin to prevent contamination when it was necessary to mix chemicals, and it increased monitoring activities of water bodies in the park.
Golf course officials increased usage of natural organic fertilizers on the greens and still maintains higher than normal monitoring of the irrigation system to conserve water.
Golf pro David Hyduke said the program fits the attitude of most golfers who play the public course.
"People like to know we are doing all we can to take care of the environment," Hyduke said. "It's a bonus if we can show them wildlife and water quality while they are playing. We do all we can to reduce chemical use and to make the course as natural as possible."