Stats for the State of California Certified Signature Sanctuaries: 7

Barona Creek                                                       
Located on sovereign Native American land near Lakeside, California, east of San Diego in the Wildcat Mountain Valley, the 250-acre golf course’s grounds were used for cattle grazing for nearly 100 years.  Because much of California’s original oak woodlands have been severely depleted, the Barona Band of Mission Indians worked with Audubon International Signature staff to design a large scale oak restoration project.  More than 170 mature native oaks were transplanted from other areas of the reservation.  Englemann and coast live oak saplings were planted to help restore oak ecosystems.  The terrain is subtly undulating, with prominent rock outcroppings and gentle elevation changes.  The design staff of Gary Roger Baird developed the natural drainage areas into dry creek beds giving a natural look and providing new habitat, with the goal of increasing biodiversity.  Twelve acres of lakes and streams were constructed and serve as a source for irrigation, while providing vegetated shorelines for wildlife cover. The number of bird species observed on site since the beginning of construction has increased from 62 to 134 species including black-necked stilt, American widgeon, ringed-neck duck, wrentit, bufflehead, and loggerhead shrike.  Two golden eagles are frequently sighted near the fourteenth and fifteenth holes.  Barona Creek is the first Audubon International Signature Sanctuary on Native American sovereign land in California.  Visit Barona Creek Golf Club and see its other amenities at www.barona.com

Cypress Ridge Golf Course
Located on the northwestern portion of the Nipomo Mesa in southern San Luis Obispo County, California, Cypress Ridge Golf Course is an  18-hole Peter Jacobsen/Jim Hardy-designed golf course on a 386 acre site.  The namesake tree is the Monterey cypress and old specimen trees can be seen growing along Cypress Ridge Parkway, some trees being over 110 years old. The natural communities on the property are grassland/development, coastal dune scrub/chaparral, riparian/freshwater marsh, and eucalyptus/cypress windrows.  The site is situated north of Black Lake Canyon Slough, which is one of the few remaining freshwater marshes in the area used by migratory waterfowl and is a county-designated "Sensitive Resource Area".  A 45 acre re-vegetation project is nearing completion with the planting of over 18,000 native plants, over 1,200 oak trees, and over 19 acres seeded to custom collected native seed. The golf course  was designated as a Certified Silver Audubon Signature  Sanctuary on January 25, 1999.  For more details, see its web site at www.cypressridge.com.  

Granite Bay
Granite Bay Golf Club has an 18-hole course situated northeast of Sacramento, California in the Placer County foothill community of the lower Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Most impressive is the community of trees dominated by mature blue oak and California interior live oak.  The woodlands support such bird species as California towhee and yellow-billed magpie.  In the middle of the site are remnants indicating its use hundreds of years ago as a home for a large group of Native Americans.  Granite Bay Golf Club became a Certified Audubon Signature Cooperative Sanctuary on May 1, 1998.  To learn more, visit Granite Bay Golf Club's website at http://www.granitebayclub.com/

Gray's Crossing
Built as part of the New Urbanism movement, Gray’s Crossing is a 789-acre community set within the Sierra Mountains in the Truckee/North Tahoe region (CA) and features 418-acres of open space plus six miles of public hiking and biking trails that connect residents to the downtown areas. Three neighborhoods keep residents within the natural environment where individual home sites were carefully sited to minimize unnecessary impact to the land and blend in,  rather than dominate,  the natural surroundings by using natural building materials such as wood, stone, and  weathered  metals.   Landscape improvements enhance existing vegetation, utilize indigenous or regional species, and minimize areas of intensive irrigation.   

In addition to the residential component of the project is the 18 hole, private golf course designed by Peter Jacobsen and built by Weitz Golf International.  It features two large ephemeral wet meadows that cut through the property creating large open wildlife corridors that run through both  the residential and golf course portions of the property.  With the influx of water into this twenty-acre meadow,  several miles of intermittent streams are created.    One thousand native bulrush and water sedge species were planted to help create a healthy lake ecosystem and 300 pounds of rainbow trout were stocked for sport fishermen, as well as the occasional hungry osprey or bald eagle.  To learn more about Gray’s Crossing golf course and residential community, visit their website at www.grayscrossing.com

Old Greenwood
A private residential community that includes an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, Old Greenwood lies on the eastern slope of the Sierra-Nevada Mountains near Lake Tahoe, east of the town of Truckee in Nevada County, California.  The Truckee River to the south is the most significant natural element in the vicinity of the community, which is integrated onto an 871-acre site with gently rolling terrain and native landscape of Eastside Jeffery Pine with Bitterbrush/Sage Woodland understory.  In a setting of alpine meadows opening within a forest of pine trees, Old Greenwood is a year-round resort community knit together by a network of pathways that connect to regional trail systems.  Care was taken to preserve natural vegetative groupings, restore wildlife habitat, and protect intermittent streams.  Each home’s location took into account existing trees, views, and sun exposure, as well as native vegetation.  To offset any potential impact of the project on the environment, four large sections of the site were designated as preserves, with emphasis on protecting the path of Loyalton-Truckee deer herd migration.  One is a 252-acre parcel deeded to the local land trust.  Others include the Western Wash Preserve, comprising a 100- foot-wide natural buffer on each side of the wash; the 90-acre Airport Flats Buffer Preserve in the southern portion of the site; and the 239-acre Ponderosa Pine Forest ecosystem, featuring montane meadows with intermittent drainage.

Reuse of materials was a priority on this project, too.  For example, the clubhouse is constructed of material salvaged from the bottom of the Great Salt Lake.  Beams and timbers used in the interior of the building and planks used as exterior siding came from lumber that was originally part of a rail road trestle that had collapsed into the lake.  The imbedded salt will preserve the wood for many years.  Based on its sustainable approach to design, construction, and management, on September 14, 2005, Old Greenwood golf course and community became the first Certified Gold Audubon Signature Sanctuary in the state of California.  For more information on Old Greenwood and the North Tahoe/Truckee region, go to www.oldgreenwood.com

The Savannah Course at Stevinson Ranch
The Savannah Course at Stevinson Ranch Golf Club lies in the Central Joaquin Valley of California on 450 acres near the confluence of the San Joaquin and Merced Rivers.  The marsh-like wetlands on the portion of the property where the 18-hole golf course is located were created in 1905 as part of a man-made earthen irrigation canal.  More than 85 acres were restored with native plants and grasses, to repair the land from overgrazing by cattle and from the effects of drought.  Lake Honda, a prominent wetland feature, attracts a wide variety of wetland bird species, including great egret, American bittern, marsh wren, and tri-colored blackbird.  The club is located near three national or state wildlife refuges and Yosemite National Park.  The Savannah Course became the first Certified Audubon Signature Cooperative Sanctuary in California on September 14, 1996.  Visit Stevinson Ranch's web site at http://www.stevinsonranch.com/.