The America In Bloom judges ended their tour driving golf carts through the MU A.L. Gustin Golf Park. Isaac Breuer, director of golf course operations, led the caravan around the 18 hole public course where the judges toured fairways set among towering oaks, maple saplings and swaying wildflowers.
Discussion on course maintenance, grass species, field watering and curative spraying filtered in between stops along the cart path as the judges began to realize the significance of the golf park.
In 1996 Gustin became the first certified university course sanctuary through the Audubon International cooperative sanctuary certification program that offers schools the chance to integrate environmental stewardship and conservation onto their grounds. Gustin in effect became a design of green aesthetics for a sustainable habitat that incorporates the natural environment into the course.
Breuer told the judges how wildlife is abundant on the course recalling sightings of bobcats, flocks of deer, turkeys and baby hawks. But for the judges the real treat was viewing hatchlings in one of the course’s 26 blue bird houses.
Nestled among a nest of pine needles, the baby blue birds chirped as the judges got a sneak peak of the newest editions of Gustin’s blue bird population that has hatched about 1,100 eggs since 1994.
Brett O’Brien, natural resource supervisor for Columbia’s Parks and Recreation, likened Gustin to a green infrastructure that provides more to the community than just a recreational site.
Breuer agreed and added that Gustin’s allows patrons to escape their jobs and cell phones and enjoy golfing within a healthy environment that benefits people and nature.
“We feel like we’re a sanctuary here in the middle of town,” said Breuer.
— Joshua Barton
