I wish that Mr. Penland’s views on Shining Mountain Golf Course were correct, but unfortunately he is completely out of touch with reality, and with current conservation efforts.
Golf, a pursuit that was once very popular in the US, has been steadily declining in popularity, with 6.8 million golfers leaving the sport and 1200 courses closing just between 2003 and 2018 . And yet we still pour millions of gallons of water on these courses every day, plus huge amounts of synthetic fertilizer and pesticides, all of which degrade the quality of downstream water and riparian areas.
Shining Mountain Golf Course has never thrived, for one very simple reason; people do not come to Woodland Park and Teller County to play golf. They come here for the hiking, fishing, hunting, and other, more sustainable, outdoor activities.
What Mr. Penland proposes are incompatible uses. Wetlands cannot co-exist with a golf course unless golf course managers do a paradigm shift and stop pouring pesticides and synthetic fertilizers on their courses. Those pesticides kill beneficial insects that wildlife feeds on, and the fertilizers cause algal blooms that starve the water of oxygen, killing fish and aquatic insects.
What would be the effect of this major shift on the people who use golf courses? The courses would revert to natural environments, which would be great for butterflies, bees, hummers, and other critters. But golfers would hate it. They expect to have greens that look like pool tables, no matter what the environmental consequences.
Mr, Penland’s other ideas are certainly attractive; hiking trails, cross country skiing, dog park, events center, etc. Forget the sports bar and grille; the current one has never succeeded and the thought of a City-run restaurant makes me shiver.
Golf is now an activity for the minority of people, not the majority. Let’s hope that the City Council will, if they decide to pursue the purchase of this property, consider alternative uses.
