Golf courses take up a lot of land. However, there is space between the areas used for playing to provide valuable semi-natural habitats for more demanding animal and plant species. The Swiss Ornithological Institute has studied the breeding bird fauna of several golf courses and draws conclusions as to how a “near-natural” golf course should be designed and maintained.
Winterberg golf course: a fallow area next to the fairway. The posts with a green cap indicate that golfers are not allowed to enter the fallow land.
Küssnacht a.R. golf course: the landscape is characterised by numerous individual trees. Boulders are used as obstacles in golf.
Andermatt golf course: large biodiversity promotion areas between the golf courses enable a thriving population of Whinchats to live here.
Domain
Conservation
Unit
Agricultural Habitats
Topics
Habitat Promotion
Habitat
semi-open farmland
Project start
1992
Project status
ongoing
Project management
Kim Meichtry-Stier
Project region
Switzerland
Employees
Species concerned
Unit
Agricultural habitats
We promote wildlife-friendly agriculture with more high-quality and better-connected habitats, fewer artificial fertilisers and fewer pesticides.