Stats for the State of  Ohio Certified Signature Status Members: 3

Longaberger Golf Club
Longaberger Golf Club, owned by the Longaberger Basket Company family, is an 800-acre property located in Nashport, Ohio.  Set in the rolling hills typical of central and southeastern Ohio, the property includes forest, brushland, and open field habitats featuring many mature American beech and oak trees.  Audubon International worked with property developers to protect large blocks of habitat and ensure that the forest canopy would continue to provide refuge for many woodland birds, including pileated woodpeckers, red-eyed vireos, and scarlet tanagers.  The Arthur Hills-designed course encompasses 500 acres with only 180 acres disturbed during development.  Of this, the development team was able to restore approximately 90 acres of grasslands.  The grasslands will provide habitat for birds, such as bobolink, savanna sparrow, and eastern meadowlark, which need larger grassland habitats to thrive.  Longaberger’s Arthur Hills course is the first public golf facility in Ohio to be certified as an Audubon Signature  Sanctuary.  To learn more about Longaberger, go to its web site at www.longaberger.com.

Sand Ridge Golf Club
In a region of the country known for its maple syrup, and within the primary snow belt of northeastern Ohio, sits Sand Ridge Golf Club on 359 acres in the western foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.  This land in the heart of Geauga County in the Southern Great Lakes Natural Region was formerly used for agricultural crop production, orchard products, and livestock pastures.  A system of elevated bridges crosses 102 acres of wetlands that support high quality wetland plants such as cardinal flower, marsh mallow, and orange jewelweed.  The 17th hole is known as “Headwaters” because it is the headwater area for the Chagrin River and Cuyahoga River watersheds of Lake Erie.  Sand Ridge Golf Club was designated as the first private Certified Audubon Signature  Sanctuary in Ohio on June 10, 1998.  Visit Sand Ridge Golf Club at www.sandridgegolf.com

Washington Golf Learning Center (WGLC)
Combining the expertise of the Cleveland Metropolitan Park District (Cleveland Metroparks) staff with the technical expertise of Audubon International, another Cleveland park recreational facility was produced that carries with it recognition as a sustainable development through the Audubon International Gold Signature Program.   The principal attribute of the degraded WGLC project property, is that despite being in a densely developed residential/industrial zoned community, it serves as an "island of green” or a resting and refueling spot for birds crossing Lake Erie.   WGLC is literally either the last in northward migration or the first in southward migration refueling area before or after the crossing of Lake Erie.   So the challenge for this project became to design, build, and maintain a golf teaching facility and at the same time restore quality wildlife habitat.   One of the most important resulting features of the site is the 4.5-acre wetland complex consisting of three  wetland  cells, which created 1.4-acres of open water, 2.5-acres of wet meadow, 0.4-acres of cattail marsh, and 0.2-acres of wet forest.    The entire golf course drainage system flows into the wetland complex through a series of storm piping, vegetated swales, and overland flows providing new and quality habitat.   

Another aspect of the project was the First Tee Program.  Unlike other First Tee courses that provide a single golf hole “off to the side” for instruction of young people,  Cleveland Metroparks dedicated the entire 9th hole course to the  First Tee program. In addition,  Cleveland Municipal School District Washington Park Horticulture Center is located on six acres within the property. The vocational education center has operated since 1977 and teaches over 250 students enrolled in workforce development.  Cleveland Metroparks anticipates the schools core curriculum will be expanded to include courses such as golf course design, landscape design, arboriculture, and arboretum design.  The entire project site will become an outdoor classroom, or “land laboratory” for the students.

 Washington Golf Learning Center is a prime example of a successful, ecologically focused, collaborative partnership between for-profit and not-for-profits groups:  Cleveland Metroparks (which manages and maintains the property),  First Tee of Cleveland (which financed the project),  International Management Group (which designed the project),  Mid-America Golf (which built the course), The Cleveland Municipal School District (which will integrate education), the City of Cleveland (which owns it),  and Audubon International (which provided sustainable development guidance).  For more information about Cleveland Metroparks and the WGLC, visit the website at www.clevelandmetroparks.com.