Current News

GCSACC came in 1st Place at the New England Superintendents Championship hosted this year by the Vermont GCSA and held at The Quechee Club.

6/23/16-6/24/16 

I was pleased to represent our Association at the two day conference that was put on by the Cape Cod Commission. Politicians, scientists, stakeholders and many government employees were in attendance.

The '208' plan moves forward now, with many towns already having plans designed by their engineers with the help of the Commission.

Traditional sewering with treatment plants will happen in many densely populated areas and around water resources. Innovative ideas such as floating wetlands that can be harvested, shellfish beds, aquaculture, waterway inlet widening, permeable reactive barriers, eco toilets and urine diversion toilets are all being tested. Some of these projects are already under way.

Completion of the project and paying for it may take 40 to 50 years. Yes it will be very expensive. Currently it is estimated to cost 4 to 8 billion dollars.

The goal is to restore Cape Cod's environment to what it was in the 1960's. That noble goal is attainable.

Our Association is viewed favorably as participating stakeholders in this process. Many questions regarding the reuse of purified urine on turf as a liquid fertilizer were directed my way. A pilot project will be started for the next growing season. They need our help to do these projects correctly.

Thirty years ago we studied the effect of golf courses on groundwater. Today we are helping with the current projects and experiments that are underway. I hope that in another 30 years people will say that golf really stepped forward and helped to solve some of the Cape's environmental issues.

 Thanks for everyone's support for so many years...

Ed Nash

The Assembly voted to send a request to Governor Baker asking him to intervene and overrule any laws that would permit power line spraying on Cape Cod.
 
Dr. O'Malley and Laura Kelley presented the Article. They were quick to point out that only power lines were being targeted. Golf and other pesticide users are not included in this article.
 
Most of the Assembly Members felt that they should allow the motion to be sent so that they would err of the side of caution.
 
County Commissioner Leo Cakounes mentioned that in 2011 a panel of scientists and local proponents and opponents studied the use of spot spraying on the power lines and their conclusion was that there would be no danger from that proposed spraying. ( We participated in that study ). Dr. O'Malley countered that the study was old science and that 40% of farmer deaths in South America are caused by Roundup. A motion was made and carried to have the 2011 study sent to the Governor along with O'Malley's letter. The Dept. of Agriculture will also get copies.
 
In my opinion, if there is any validity or not, to O'Malley's assertions regarding Roundup dangers, the State Pesticide Board should tell us more about the product. We need to know the correct answer when people ask.
 
Power line spraying is not our battle, but we must watch very cautiously, because this could be the tip of a very slippery ice berg.....
 
Ed Nash
 

The MDAR held a stakeholders meeting to discuss Plant Nutrient Regulations on March 25, 2015 in Westborough. Here is the message from our new MDAR Commissioner Lebeaux. There is a Plant Nutrient Regulation draft, which is not available to the public yet, but will be made available for stakeholder review and public comment before it goes to Governor Baker for signing. They would not commit to a date. Important to verbally note:

• U MA (Mary Owen) has been actively involved in the rewrite. They're current attention is classification of bio-solids. 
• There are no exemptions from regulation, neither applicators nor plant nutrient products.
• Mineral and organic plant nutrient products must be applied at BMP rates for N P K.
• Organic class products will get one state approved application per year at a maximum .rate of .25 lb P. 
• All application dates have been removed. Applicators must abide by growing conditions and BMP limits. 
• Professional applicators MUST keep electronic or written records of fertilizer applications for three years.
• Local Plant Nutrient bylaws, which have been approved by the state, (not recommendations) will be the maximum per-application and per-annual limits for all applicators in the jurisdiction to abide.
• No local authority can regulate pesticides, this is exclusive to MDAR.

Thank you,

Rick Lawlor, CGCS

Vice President, GCSACC

“What’s a super to do?”
Wading Through DEP’s Water Management Act 20 Year Permit Renewal (continued)
By Rick Lawlor, CGCS

By June 1, 2015 the Town of Yarmouth golf courses had drawn three times their annual average for this time of year. Since the snow had melted, Cape Cod hadn’t received a drop of rain and the long term forecast was bleak. The superintendent shut off the irrigation on everything except for the playing surfaces of greens; green surrounds; fairways; and tees.

By August 31 we had drawn more than 3 MG over the permitted amount with two months of irrigation remaining. The playing surfaces on the golf course were good, but the rough area was dormant.  There had only been two occasions since June 1 that the irrigation was shut off because sufficient rainfall was received for a 24 hour period. In an unusual turn of events, we learned that numerous Yarmouth resident golfers had made phone calls to MA DEP to complain about the conditions of the golf course. Learning this prompted the superintendent to contact Julie Butler, MA DEP WMA Permit reviewer and set a meeting date. Shortly after this, our Director for the Town of Yarmouth – Golf Division also contacted MA DEP to inquire about policy/regulations and report the conditions that these restrictions created on the town’s income resource. As a consequence of his phone inquiry he received permission from DEP to draw more water than was permitted by their WMA Permit. This is first time in my career that I have ever heard of DEP authorizing a permit holder to exceed their allotment.

So, we turned the water on and it started raining. (Ain’t that a kick?) We also had the meeting with MA DEP to discuss our situation at the Town of Yarmouth golf courses and seek resolution with their guidance. In addition, the town hired an experienced engineering consultant to help navigate through this regulatory quagmire. As mentioned in the previous newsletter, MA DEP is currently in the process of reviewing all of the Cape Cod MA DEP WMA permits to have the authorized withdrawal volume be relative to the average reported draw. However, the average would not be sufficient to prevent another year of conditions such as the one we just experienced. Thus, it was quickly decided that the Town of Yarmouth – Golf Division apply for a new permit with MA DEP for a volume of water more than our historical average… about 25% more.

At the time of this writing the new permit application had just been submitted to MA DEP by our consultant. In addition to handling this part of the process for us, the consultant was valuable to the Town of Yarmouth on a number of items:

• Years of experience dealing with the process and the players.

• Own a large, relative data base.

• Have the expertise to evaluate environmental impacts.

• Know how to provide acceptable mitigation measures.

Thank you to Matt Crowther, CGCS who recently wrote an article for The Sand Blaster newsletter about his golf trip to Ireland with TurfNet.

To read the entire article with photos, please click on the link below.

Golf in Ireland

This message is being posted on behalf of Kevin Doyle, GCSAA Field Staff.

GCSAA Waters Of The US (WOTUS) Resources
The WOTUS rule went into effect on August 28, 2015 and as of October 2^nd fell under a Federal Court Injunction! Recent changes made to the Clean Water Act are not in affect at this time, but be aware, you may still need federal permits as the rule was written before the EPA/US Army Corp of Engineers rule changes were implemented!  For more information visit the GCSAA WOTUS landing page by clicking here.

The Golf Course Superintendents Association of Cape Cod met on Thursday, December 10, 2015 for the Annual Meeting at White Cliffs Country Club.  Here are the results from the meeting.

GCSACC Board of Directors 2016
President                  Paul Doherty
Vice-President          Richard Lawlor, CGCS
Secretary                   Brian Smoot
Treasurer                   James McGrail
Director                      Joshua Beland
Director                      David Stott
Associate Director    John Bresnahan
Past President              Kevin Young
Newsletter Editor          Stuart Eyman, CGCS

GCSACC would also like to thank everyone who donated canned goods and monetary donations to the Greater Plymouth Food Warehouse.

14 Scholarships were awarded to the following students: Jared Bramhall, Emma Colombo, Nuala Deely, Kaitlin Doherty, Liam Doherty, Alison Donovan, Catherine Felicetti, Sophia Felicetti, Shane Fonseca, Brianna Golden, Angela Harrington, Elizabeth Murray, Carly White and Shane White

GCSACC also awarded members with their 15 and 25 year pins.

15 Year Pins:
George Fairbanks
John Lenhart
Carl Miner
Mike Parks
Thomas Rioux
Tom Stone
Gary Sykes
Ben Whiting
Kevin Young       

25 Year Pins:
Bruce Carlson
Bruce Chapman
Tom Fox
Arthur Silva
Chris Tufts


Congratulations to Dahn Tibbett  on his recent retirement.

Congratulations to Kurt Calderwood and Bob Kingsbury (pictured L-R) with their awards for Player of the Year. Kurt was the Gross winner and Bob was the Net winner.