A Plea to Preserve the Existing
Stanford University Golf Course Lands
in Open Space
to Ensure Biodiversity for the Region

by Fred Templin and Dr. David E. Wilkins

This package consists of the following elements:

Position statement

The Stanford University Golf Course provides prime habitat for a wide variety of wildlife, including numerous species of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians. The golf course has been so recognized by its acceptance in the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses sponsored by Audubon International. In its conservation report on the Stanford University Golf Course (see Exhibit A: Audubon Conservation Report), Audubon International states that:

"The woods, wetlands, stream and creek on the property already provide valuable food, cover, and water sources as illustrated by the variety of wildlife, such as jack rabbits, great horned owls, bluebirds, and the California newt, seen at the course. These areas can form the core of your cooperative sanctuary. You are also fortunate to be bordered by additional woodlands. This larger habitat area allows you to attract wildlife that need a greater amount of space to survive. Furthermore, your location along the Pacific flyway, the major west coast bird and migration route, places you in an excellent position to attract many species of migrating birds.

Based on your information, it appears that Stanford University Golf Course has already undertaken several important wildlife and habitat enhancement projects. We commend you for beginning projects such as mounting next boxes, providing snags (dead trees standing), leaving woodland understory, naturalizing non-play areas and providing corridors for salamander access to reproductive sites. We were also impressed with the fact that out of 160 acres, only 85 acres are in-play turf grass. This allows you to provide valuable "open space" and habitat for wildlife."

In this report, we will limit our discussion to the wild birds supported by the golf course. This habitat also supports many mammal species, including fox, coyote, deer, jack rabbit, and two threatend species, the red legged frog and tiger alamander. Another report is being prepared on the latter.

The critically-important golf course habitat supports one of the most abundant and biodiverse populations of wild birds (and other wildlife) in the region (see Exhibit B: Stanford Golf Course Bird List and Exhibit D: Golf Course Walkthrough Report. ). To date, 60 different birds species have been reported on the golf course premises, with numerous others awaiting discovery. Particularly sensitive habitat areas for wild birds on the golf course premises include:

But, the golf course habitat areas are not a closed system (like a zoo) in which wild birds seen on the golf course remain on the premises and go nowhere else.

Instead, the golf course provides crucial habitat not only for year round resident birds, but also for those that migrate locally throughout the surrounding open space areas and for long range migrants which use the golf course habitat as a stopover point along the Pacific Flyway seasonal migration routes. Indeed, the golf course habitat and surrounding open spaces are in symbiotic relationship with one another; one cannot be viewed separately from the other in terms of the biodiversity of the region. Additionally, the golf course habitat provides a crucial link in the chain for a number of seasonal migrants; without this link, the environmental impact for certain species might be felt along the entire Pacific Flyway. We provide a few examples to illustrate the above points.

Western Bluebirds

As a case in point, the golf course premises holds the one of the most abundant populations of Western Bluebirds in the bay area. This is due to the nesting box efforts of environmental advocates and the availability of natural tree cavity nesting sites on the golf course premises; especially along the first 7 holes. Without this crucial habitat, the Western Bluebirds would not be present. Although the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society does sponsor a "bluebird trail" in the open spaces adjoining the golf course, we believe the nesting sites on the golf course are preferred due to the excellent insect hunting opportunities provided by the short fairway grasses and availability of nesting materials found in the native grasses bordering the fairways. But, Western Bluebirds make local seasonal migrations, so it is very likely that many of the birds seen on the golf course during the nesting season are among the birds seen in the open spaces during the winter rainy season. Without the prime habitat available on the golf course premises, the population of western bluebirds for the entire region would undoubtedly suffer.

Hawks

The hawk species seen at the golf course including Red Tailed, Red Shouldered, Coopers, Sharp-Shinned, Northern Harrier, Black Shouldered Kite, American Kestrel (and possibly even an occasional Peregrine Falcon or Golden Eagle, though none have been confirmed to date) clearly do not spend their entire existence on the golf course premises. Instead, many of these are the same birds seen soaring over the campus, the open spaces in the vicinity of the Stanford dish, and along the foothills adjacent to highway 280. Without the prime hunting grounds provided by the golf course habitat, populations for the surrounding areas would clearly be impacted as well.

Hooded Mergansers and Wood Ducks

As a final example, both Hooded Mergansers and Wood Ducks have been reported in the section of San Francisquito Creek east of Junipero Serra Boulevard during the migration seasons. These ducks do not remain on the golf course property year round, but use the riparian corridor as a stop-over point during their annual migrations. Without the riparian corridor preserved by the golf course, especially the portion east of Junipero Serra, a crucial link in the migration chain along the Pacific Flyway for such birds would be lost.

Conclusion

We re-emphasize the fact that the wildlife habitat present on the golf course premises supports not only year-round resident species, but also provides seasonal habitat for species that migrate locally throughout the open spaces and long range migrants which travel along the Pacific Flyway. Additionally, much of this habitat has been in place since the golf course was created 70 years ago and is thus a long-established and fundamental element of the regional ecosystem. Therefore, the potential impact for regional biodiversity that may result from the loss of this habitat would be impossible to quantify a priori, but would quite likely be devastating in many instances. We urge the board to preserve the existing Stanford University Golf course lands in open space so that such impact need never be assessed.

Fred L. Templin and David E. Wilkins
Last modified: Tue Nov 6 13:33:10 2001