Colorado Golf Carbon Project announces signing on two courses

Golfpreserves announces that Applewood Golf Course in Golden, Colorado and Breckenridge Municipal Golf Course in Breckenridge Colorado, have signed on to be part of the first ever comprehensive emission and sequestration project for the Golf industry.

“There is such great momentum around the project right now. We are excited to welcome Applewood and Breckenridge Golf Courses on board. And the letters of support are continuing to arrive, most recently from the Office of the Governor of Colorado,” says Noble Hendrix, co-founder of Golfpreserves®.

Applewood Golf Course, the granddaddy of “organic” golf courses, was established for the Adolph Coors Co. in 1961. Situated atop an aquifer that Coors (today MillerCoors) still uses to provide water for its beverages. Due to its location, the company decided as early as 1988 to quit running the risk of contaminating the aquifer and ordered its golf-course personnel to develop a holistic view on maintenance. Today, the course is run without the use of pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. Set against the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Applewood is a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary.

“Being environmentally responsible is part of our DNA here at Applewood. The opportunity for the golf industry to create self-sustaining funding for its future research is intriguing and the decision to sign up for with Golfpreserves® and the Colorado Golf Carbon Project made a lot of sense: We are proud to be part of the solution”, says Matthew Rusch, Superintendent at Applewood Golf Course.

Breckenridge Golf Club, in the Town of Breckenridge, is the only municipality owned Jack Nicklaus designed 27-hole golf course. Previous honors include Best Mountain Course as well as Toughest Mountain Course by the Colorado Golfer and received a 4 ½ Star Facility rating by Golf Digest. Breckenridge is also a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary.

“As a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, the Breckenridge Golf Club is committed to being environmentally responsible. The Colorado Golf Carbon Project and Golfpreserves® is a good example of initiatives that are going to make us stronger moving forward,” says Tim Walsh, Golf Course Superintendent at Breckenridge Golf Club.

“There are approximately 18,000 courses in the US alone and our project is inviting all of them to participate. As noted recently by Jim Hyler, the new President of the USGA, there is a heightened awareness about the environment and golf. We foresee a need for our Project and rapid growth in 2010”, says William Crispin, co-founder of Golfpreserves®.

The Golfpreserves® project is now open to participation for the owners of the country’s golf courses. There is no cost to be a participant with Golfpreserves®.
Visit www.golfpreserves.com for more information or to make an inquiry.

About Golfpreserves
Golfpreserves is a carbon sequestration program for the golf course industry. As an aggregator, Golfpreserves will facilitate the assessment, quantification and confirmation and create carbon financial instruments (CFI) that will be traded on the carbon market. The proceeds from sold carbon credits are invested into research focusing on carbon sequestration, environmentally improved turfgrass, irrigation and pesticide usage. www.golfpreserves.com

In October of 2009, Golfpreserves® and the Allied Golf Associations of Colorado initiated the Colorado Golf Carbon Project, where a carbon emissions data collection system as well as document the carbon sequestered at participating golf courses is being developed.

About the Colorado Golf Carbon Project
The Colorado Project is the first ever comprehensive emission and sequestration project for the Golf industry. Further than providing the full picture of carbon sequestration and emissions at the courses, the project presents a built in funding mechanism for future research and development for the golf industry as a whole.

The project is not only unique in what it is setting out to achieve, but also in the diverse group of representatives who stand behind it: Golfpreserves and the Allied Golf Associations of Colorado, including the Colorado Golf Association, the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the GCSAA, the Colorado chapters of the NGCOA, PGA, CMAA and Colorado Women’s Golf Association. Further, the project is supported by the USGA, Colorado State University, USDA-ARS, Audubon International, the International Sustainability Council, OPEI as well as the Office of the Governor of Colorado.