I don’t know many people who would say that golf courses are good for the environment, but Justin Timberlake has changed that notion. Last week he opened Mirimichi Golf Course, which is the first golf course to ever receive the Audubon Certified International Classic Sanctuary status. To achieve this certification, a course must:
implement sustainable resource management principles that incorporate wildlife conservation, habitat rehabilitation and enhancement, water conservation, and water quality protection
To read more about this effort to prove that golf courses do not necessarily have to contribute to habitat destruction, see Timberlake’s Mirimichi Golf Course Receives Top Ecological Designation and Justin Timberlake Kicks Off Media Day at Mirimichi.
This is a great example of what reconciliation ecology means. This is a term coined by Michael Rosenzweig in Win-Win Ecology which he defines as:
the science of inventing, establishing, and maintaining new habitats to conserve species diversity in places where people live, work, or play
We do not need to separate our actions for wildlife from the areas of our properties we use every day. Conservation Gardening is about learning to share our whole property with wildlife by making healthy choices that benefit both us and the wildlife around us.
By adopting the principles Justin Timberlake adopted for his golf course in our own gardens, we are well on our way to Conservation Gardening.
I’d like to see a whole lot more golf courses adopt this model, plus business owners, college campuses, municipal buildings, etc. What do you think?
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