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The Sanctuaryat Wulfert PointThe tee shot carries over native area on the seventh hole

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A sanctuaryand a golf coursewrapped in awildlife preserveBY JOEL D. JACKSON, CGCSA golf course sanctuary wrapped in a U.S.Wildlife Preserve might seem to some to be like theold saying," a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrappedin a paradox!" To those ofus who have witnessed thetremendous diversity ofwildlife on our golf courses,the term, sanctuary, is perhaps indeed a most accurate description.Last year when DanJones told me there was anew 18-hole private clubon Sanibel that we mightwant to consider for themagazine, I was amazed. Iknew South Seas Plantation resort had a nine-holecourse on the tip of CaptivaIslandjustnorthofSanibel,but I wasn't aware thatthere were two other public access courses, BeachView and The Dunes, onSanibel. And now a newprivate, 18-hole, championship-length course. Itwas hard to imagine.Many of you may know Sanibel Island as thesea-shell-collecting capitol of Florida. What youmay not know is that they have some of the mostrigid rules about any type of development in thestate. There are no towering condominiums orgaudy signs of rampant commercialism like thoseWulfert Point iscredited as Sanibel'sfirst settlement. TheCalusa Indians called ithome for nearly onethousand years asrecently as 800 AD. Itwasn't until around1887 that the firstmodern homesteader'sbegan arriving raisingcitrus and vegetables.found in most of our coastal areas. No McDonald'sor Burger King's. There are, however, over 40award-winning restaurants from The Mucky Duckto Windows Over the Sea.Jerry's, the main grocery store, is hard to spothidden in a grove of trees. Everything is low key,low profile, slow paced and quality driven. It is oneof the few places left where one can truly enjoy aFlorida barrier island environment.Wulfert Point is credited as Sanibel's first settlement. The Calusa Indians called it home for nearlyone thousand years as recently as 800 AD. It wasn'tuntil a r o u n d 1887 t h a t the first m o d e r nhomesteader's began arriving raising citrus andvegetables. Disastrous hurricanes in 1910, 1921,and 1926 finally ended these efforts and the farmswere replaced by Clarence Chadwick's lime andcoconut groves. This small agricultural community had a school, a post-office store and about onehundred citizens for a brief history of little morethan forty years.Nearly 70 years later, the owners of the WulfertPoint area had to overcome some stiff oppositionto exercise their private property rights to developthe area. After much negotiation, the permits weregranted. In return the developers had to build awastewater treatment plant to serve Captiva andSanibel Islands; design the course to retain run-offfrom the development; and then deed a strip ofland around the development to the U.S. Fish &Wildlife Service, which puts The Sanctuary technically within the boundaries of the John "Ding"Darling Wildlife Preserve.Getting the development approved and constructed was a challenge in itself. And now Tim

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Sever, the superintendent, and his staff have a unique opportunity to demonstrate that properly-executed turf managementtechniques can be quite harmonious with nature. It will be anexciting and interesting project to watch in the years to come.During the construction process, generating good usable fillwas difficult as most of the clearing work had to be done bydragline. Much of the needed fill had to be trucked in from themainland which was an expensive proposition. Fortunately thecharacter of the golf course did notrequire high mounds, but rather subtlemounding, which Arthur Hills masterfully blended to the low lying island features.Consequently, the course does notlook artificial or imposed on the landscape. It flows gracefully through thehabitat framed and accented by themore than 10,000 trees that weremoved and replanted along it's route.Those trees were tagged by Sanibel'sVegetation Inspector, Steve Mullins.It is Steve's responsibility to see thatany developed property follows thelandscaping and native plant guidelines required by the City of Sanibel.Of paramount importance duringthis phase was minimal impact on theexisting wildlife. A state-licensed handler was hired to relocate any of theover 200 gopher tortoises on site thatmight wander into harm's way. Theywere placed into three specially protected areas to keep them safe. Overthree miles of plastic barrier fencingwas erected to separate wildlife areasfrom construction activities.One of these areas was known asthe Eagle buffer area and was the siteof an active bald eagle nest. It was offlimits to any development within 750feet during nesting season October 1 to May 15. Natural screensof tall Australian pines were left intact to prevent even visualcontact. No foot or motorized traffic could approach the nest atanytime. A 60-foot perch pole was erected near the nest for theirfuture use while the eagles were gone during the summer.Unfortunately, the nest was destroyed by Hurricane Andrewand the eagles relocated to an adjacent area on Sanibel. They arestill seen on the golf course and frequently use the perch pole.I saw no eagles during my interview ride with Tim, but I didsee an abundance of wading birds and two very large gatorstaking the morning sun. On this day in February, the course andthe native vegetation were reacting to a rare frost earlier in theweek. The sun ricocheted off the shiny sleek bark of the tropicalgumbo limbo trees as their thinned out canopies provided littleshade. The prolific sea grapes had slimmed down for winter aswell. But the turf was green and the pattern of carefully craftedstripes stood out like vivid light and dark shadows in thefairways.The greens were tight and closely cropped and to the trainedeye there was evidence of a recent light top dressing. Thebunkers were all neatly raked in swirling patterns and tiny whiteshell fragments in the sand tied the brand new course instantlyto the legacy of the island.As we rode the course, Tim detailedsome of the challenges facing his department:"Our irrigation water, as you mightexpect, has a high salt content rangingfrom 1200 to 2900 parts per million. Ialways thought 2000 ppm was considered lethal for fine turf."I asked why he wasn't using effluentfrom the waste water plant that had tobe built. "We will eventually, and Ican't wait till that happens, he said,"but right now, there isn't enough demand from Sanibel or Captiva to evenwarrant starting up the plant.""Our soil also has a high pH, around8.0, from the calcareous sand profile.We apply sulfur seasonally and we alsobuffer our irrigation water to preventfurther aggravation of the problem.We go through a tank of bufferingsolution each month."We don't get that much annualrainfall, maybe averaging only about30 inches per year. We can get theshowers from the south and west, butmost all the easterly afternoon thundershowers rain out or split beforethey reach us."It has something to do with thephysical orientation of the island andthe surrounding water. Even the southern part of the island gets more rain than we do here on thenorthern end."When we do get rain we have to retain the runoff from thedevelopment and golf course on the course itself. It isn't thatevident just looking at the course, but the margins of the courseactually have a five and a half foot berm designed into theroughs."Retention lakes and spreader swales and drains all hold thewater until it percolates or evaporates. If we get inundated andthe lakes fill up, we can have some soft wet areas around themouths of some of the drains for a day or two.""Another challenge comes from residing and operating in aU. S. Fish & Wildlife Preserve." I work very closely with theDirector of the Preserve, Lou Hinds. I have to submit a list ofchemical products I would like to use to the Fish & Wildlife7 have to submita list of chemicalproducts I wouldlike to use to theFish & Wildliferegional office inAtlanta. Theystudy the list anddelete anyproduct theydon't want us touse.y

At hole 16, gentle mounds and swales aid drainage and add interest.The 10th green uses a bit of the native wilderness to guard itself.regional office in Atlanta. They study thelist and delete any product they don'twant us to use. So far, we have not hadany problems that we couldn't treat successfully with the available chemicals."We obviously hope that the biological controls being introduced will proveto be very effective. That would be a plusfor everyone!"As we continued our ride, I spied somefolks working in the adjacent woods.Tim explained, "We also use the services of an outside contractor for another unique requirement of the development permit. We have to go throughannually and scout for and remove anyexotic vegetation even if it was here before the development began."I couldn't help but notice how immaculate the course was as we toured. Itreflected the conscientious nature ofTim's management style, and the integrity of the ownership and the staff of TheSanctuary.Superintendents are always interested