Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuaries

Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course, The Links at Spanish Bay and Del Monte Golf Course are each designated as a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary by Audubon International. This education and certification program promotes ecologically sound land management and the conservation of natural resources on established golf courses.

To reach certification, a course must demonstrate that they are maintaining a high degree of environmental quality in a number of areas including Environmental Planning, Wildlife and Habitat Management, Outreach and Education, Chemical Use Reduction and Safety, Water Conservation and Water Quality Management. The Links at Spanish Bay was the first in all of California to reach this certification.

For more details on this wonderful program, refer to the Audubon International website at https://auduboninternational.org/acsp-for-golf/.

Respecting Our Environment

• PBC employees participate in Earth Day beach clean-ups.
• PBC employs a fully integrated pest management (“IPM”) program, utilizing cultural and biological practices to reduce and manage disease, weed and pest pressures. These practices include careful weather and moisture monitoring, hand weeding, aerifying, verticutting, deep tining, spiking and grooming, as well as utilization of organic and slow release fertilizers and less toxic, less mobile and less persistent pesticides.
• The majority of weeds are pulled by hand on our golf courses and throughout the resorts. When herbicides or pesticides are required, the application is done by spot spraying.
• PBC regularly maintains all wildlife habitat areas like the riparian buffer zone along the 12th hole at Spyglass Hill Golf Course. These vegetated areas attract wildlife, providing important habitat and migration corridors for many species. They also slow and filter nutrients and sediments out of stormwater before they reach water bodies.
• The South Riparian Area, located between the 8th tee and 8th green at The Links at Spanish Bay, is also part of an ongoing habitat enhancement program. During the winter each year, silt builds up in the pond, creating a situation where tule plants choke off almost all areas of open water. The lack of open water, in turn, has an adverse effect on local waterfowl.
• By removing the silt and increasing the depth of the South Riparian pond, PBC reduces the problem of tule infestation, substantially increasing the open water of the pond, and thus enhancing the habitat quality of the pond for native resident and transitory birds.

Forestry/Ecology Department Activities

• PBC has a full-time staff of 10 ecology, forestry and native plant nursery staff.
• Our native plant nursery is capable of growing 70,000 native plants a year for use in re-vegetation and reforestation projects, which operate year round for all open space areas within the 5,300 acres of the Del Monte Forest. Drought-tolerant and native trees and sand dune species are systematically introduced on and around PBC golf courses and throughout the resorts.
• To further the planting of native species throughout Monterey County, PBC also continues the tradition of furnishing plants to organizations whose focus is the rehabilitation and protection of native plant habitats. Pebble Beach Company donates native plants to the Beach Garden Project, Return of the Natives, Del Monte Forest Residents, Monterey Bay Aquarium and the cities of Carmel, Marina, Pacific Grove and Monterey.
• Our Exotic Plant Removal Program also operates year round targeting Genista, Pampas Grass, Bull thistle, Ice plant and other non-natives. Various techniques are utilized to combat invasives, including mechanized, manual and even goat grazing.
• PBC’s annual Harbor Seal Protection Program provides protective fencing for Harbor seal rookeries along 17-Mile Drive from April to June. The program began in 1987, to protect skittish nursing female seals from curious onlookers who often don’t maintain safe distances from the seals.
• PBC’s Forestry and Ecology staff maintain Hiking and Equestrian Trails on a regular basis, keeping them clear of fallen trees and brush. In addition, a monthly “Trail Days” event offers the staff an opportunity to work with resident volunteers on special projects on a specific portion of the trail. Recent projects include the remarking of the entire trails system and the re-mapping of the system for publication of new trail maps.
• Identifying management solutions, continuing research and developing educational priorities to limit the spread of pitch canker are goals of the statewide Pitch Canker Task Force, of which PBC is an active member. We train all of our Forestry personnel according to the recommendations and guidelines developed by the Task Force for handling diseased trees.
• Moreover, PBC is engaging in an extensive public outreach effort to educate residents and arborists working in the Del Monte Forest about safe handling techniques.