From backyards to golf courses, the same restrictions apply.<\/p>\n
GOLDEN, Colo. \u2014 Golden is the latest city along Colorado\u2019s Front Range to implement drought restrictions, with a Stage 1 response taking effect May 1 amid historically low snowpack and below-average stream flows.<\/p>\n
Residents and businesses are now limited to watering lawns no more than two days per week, during overnight or early morning hours. Violations can bring escalating fines, from $100 for a first offense in single-family homes to as much as $500 for repeated violations among commercial users.<\/p>\n
The restrictions come with a familiar question: whether the same expectations extend to the largest, most visible water users \u2014 the parks, golf courses, and expanses of grass that define much of the city\u2019s landscape.<\/p>\n
Brian Tracy, deputy director of the City of Golden Public Works, said that concern is one he hears often.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do get a lot of questions from residents and businesses, you know, saying you\u2019re asking us to do these things and what are you doing in response,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s answer, he said, is that it is cutting back as well. In some cases by allowing parts of the landscape to go brown.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur strategy is to curtail water use in some of the satellite parks, in some of the neighborhood community parks,\u201d Tracy said. \u201cMaybe let areas go dormant altogether and\/or die off in certain spots in favor of watering high-value public spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials are targeting about a 15% reduction in outdoor water use this year, he said, by prioritizing areas like downtown parks and athletic fields while scaling back irrigation in places that see little use.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of nonfunctional turf in front of buildings that people never walk on,\u201d Tracy said. \u201cWe look at those areas as maybe an area to replace that landscaping from turf to more native, drought-tolerant types of species.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even the narrow strips of grass between sidewalks and streets, common across many neighborhoods, are being reconsidered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not really high-value turf areas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The drought, Tracy added, presents an opportunity to rethink long-term water use.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this year is a good opportunity to identify what areas are important for communities and conversely what areas are not important,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a call to action for sure. It also should act as a wake-up call.\u201d<\/p>\n
Golf courses, often viewed as some of the most water-intensive landscapes, say they are already adjusting. But he said that perception does not reflect what is happening behind the scenes.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople drive by golf courses, and they see green grass and like, \u2018Oh, they\u2019re just watering like crazy,\u2019\u201d said Aaron Fankhauser, director of agronomy at The Club at Rolling Hills Golf Course.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year alone, you know, we\u2019re not watering probably 25-30% of the normal areas that we would,\u201d Fankhauser said. \u201cWe\u2019re probably on a 30% reduction of what we normally would water.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Rolling Hills, that shift includes actively converting about 20 acres into native or mulched areas that require far less irrigation. Across the course, large stretches of rough, sometimes totaling 40 to 60 acres, are now being watered at roughly a third of their usual levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to focus on the really important areas: greens, tees, fairways,\u201d he said. \u201cOutside of that, we\u2019re going to reduce it as much as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
The changes are not unique to one course, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLots of courses around the state are in the same boat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fankhauser described the approach as proactive, rather than reactive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen there\u2019s water restrictions, we actively are trying to be ahead of those problems before they even start,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For both city officials and course managers, the challenge this year stands out.<\/p>\n
In Golden, where outdoor spaces are central to daily life and identity, the result is a shift that may be visible across the landscape, from browning patches of grass to newly planted native areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all in this together and we can all make a difference,\u201d Tracy said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From backyards to golf courses, the same restrictions apply. GOLDEN, Colo. \u2014 Golden is the latest city along…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-619318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}