Defoliation

I took my trained monkey out to the course to film some of the sediment in the stream along Frontage Road where the RPZ towers intersect the creek. I noticed a lot of sediment along the Frontage Road stretch. There currently is not as much sediment beside teh seventh green; however, with the stripped hillside, I see a greater potential for the hill to wash away into the stream.

Forbidden

Forbidden

Friday’s rain gave way to a hard freeze Saturday morning. Cars were glazed over with a thick, crusty coating. The frozen grass melted as the sun erased the shadows. One thing came to my mind. Golf.

Countryside Golf Course closed on March 1, and I never had the opportunity to say good-bye properly. Today was my day. Together with my two brothers, I ventured onto the forbidden course and documented my last round. Eventually, I'll have the video we shot from that last round here on this blog.

As my brothers and I walked the course, we stepped back into time and relived memories from our youth. From the time I was merely seven years old, Countryside/Arrowood was a part of my life. Lazy summer days were spent walking around my very own playground. I grew to know every square inch. Though I would never develop the talent for golf that my brothers or father displayed, I could walk that course blind. Every trap. Every bush. Every tree. Every meadowlark’s nest in the tall grass on #12. Its beauty was what I measured every other course I visited against.

As I walked today, I found little to cherish. The course looked sad and pillaged. Left to decay. Yet despite it all, the plum tree on the third hole is in bloom.

John McCutcheon recorded a song he called “Elvaton” on his album “How Can I Keep From Singing?” back in the early 70’s. That song has always resonated with me. It’s about a small town in South Carolina that was flooded to make way for the production of nuclear fuel. For a long time, I never could find any reference to the town of Elvaton being taken over by the government. However, I recently uncovered this song with exactly the same lyrics. As you will see, the name of the town is Ellenton, South Carolina. It was a town of 6,000 quiet souls before their government came and destroyed their lives.

What happened to Ellenton reminds me, to a smaller degree, of what’s happened to my Countryside.

Death of Ellenton

Where the broad Savannah flows along to meet the mighty sea,

There stood a peaceful village that meant all the world to me.

The home of happy people--I knew each and every one,

My kin folk and all the friends I loved---the town was Ellenton.

But the military came one day and filled our hearts with woe.

"We'll study war right here," they said, "The little town must go."

Then they came with trucks and dynamite. The din and dust rose high.

I stood and gazed in silence as I watched my hometown die.

They brought bulldozers by the score where children used to play,

Pushed over all the trees we loved, and scraped the flowers away.

Now the homes are gone--the schoolhouse too--the sweat and toil of years,

And with them all the joys and hopes of past and future years.

The little church was hauled away. The fields are brown and bare,

And in their place a mighty plant. They build the H-bomb there.

Now the smoke hangs o'er the valley like the mist before my eyes,

Has been there ever since the day I sa

Oh, the friends we know and love, we'll meet upon some other shore,

For Ellenton--fair Ellenton is gone forever more.

Sadness

The City of Roanoke announced today that Countryside Golf Course will cease to operate on March 1, 2010.

Over 40 years of great golf on a great course will end.

Bear on the Loose

This bear is not representative of the Countryside bear.

There's a black bear on the loose around Countryside Golf Course. Knocking over trashcans and scaring good people, the bear remains on the lam.

Apparently, bears are running wild and free all over the Roanoke Valley as well. So with bear-mania in full effect, here are some bear facts for your digestion.


Kidzone
Many people often think of bears as big, ferocious creatures that are brown, black or white. Bears are much more than that. They are definitely big, and yes, they are very strong. They can be scary, but most will only become aggressive when threatened or when their babies are threatened and even then many species of bear won’t attack. Bears are solitary and quite docile animals that have been given a bad reputation. They are smart, shy and are great at hiding when they need to. There is very little information on some bears because researchers have a hard time finding them!


North American Bear Center

Intelligence: Large brain compared to body size. One of the more intelligent mammals. Navigation ability superior to humans. Excellent long-term memory. Can generalize to the simple concept level.

Running Speed: Lean bears can exceed 30 mph. Can run uphill, downhill, or on level ground. Fat bears in winter coats overheat and tire quickly.

Daily Activity Period: Most bears become active a half-hour before sunrise, take a nap or two during the day, and bed down for the night an hour or two after sunset. However, some bears are active at night to avoid people or bears.

Preferred Foods: Nuts, acorns, fruit, insects, succulent greens. Meat and less succulent greens are eaten when preferred foods are scarce. A scarcity of preferred foods can result in failed reproduction, stunted growth, failure to add optimal amounts of fat, and death of young bears, especially cubs.

Potential Longevity (lifespan): Black bears can live 21-33 years or more if they are not killed.

Causes of Death: Very few adult bears outside of national parks die of natural causes. Nearly all adult bears die from human-related causes. Most are eventually shot. A few are killed by vehicles. The average age of death in hunted populations is three to five years of age. Bears less than 17 months old sometimes die from starvation, predation, falls from trees, and other accidental causes. Very few die of disease.

Core Home Range Diameter: Typically: Yearlings: 1-2 miles. Adult females: 2-6 miles. Adult males: 8-15 miles. Excursions to 126 miles recorded.

Long-Term Problem: Magazines and movies have given black bears an unrealistically ferocious image, causing people to fear them excessively and kill them unnecessarily. There are many misconceptions about black bears.

Greatest misconception: The greatest misconception about black bears is that they are likely to attack people in defense of cubs. They are highly unlikely to do this. Black bear researchers often capture screaming cubs in the presence of bluff-charging mothers with no attacks.

Living with Bears: Many people are moving into black bear habitat. The bears' future depends on how well we understand and tolerate them.

Here's a bear to color.

Here's a Bear Movie


Stay alert. Stay safe.

4-2...and the Grass Continues to Grow.

Photo from The Roanoker

Council met. Council waited. Council voted, voted to breathe life back into Countryside.

But it wasn't enough. Five votes were needed. Read about it in The Roanoke Free Press.

So now the window of opportunity to keep the course open as it transitions to a new lease rapidly disappears and the course may well have to shut its doors and close its fairways.

The grass will grow and the land will become a groundhog playground. Since the trees were all cut down back in the early summer, Countryside is beginning to look increasingly barren and lonely.

I Believe...

...It's time for someone to cut the grass.

Countryside Tree Grab

[Click Pictures to Enrage]

Over the past couple of weeks, Countryside Golf Course has lost a large amount of tree cover. The Roanoke Airport Commission has decided to clear their property of woody green vegetation. Sadly, the course has now been stripped.

The following nine pictures document the damage to the area adjacent to Lewiston Rd. I was disappointed the the family of Mallard ducks weren't hanging out in the acidic sawdust pond that was created after logging ended.

The following four pictures chronicle the view from the cul-de-sac of Cheraw Lake Rd.

The wooded areas adjacent to Frontage Road have taken the greatest hit. The whole stretch has been wiped out. Some of my favorite blackberry, raspberry, and cherry trees have been destroyed. In addition, no protection appears to have been given to the stream that runs through the cut zone.

Instead of topping or selectively clearing some of the larger trees from the area, the Airport Commission chose to clear all woody vegetation. The timing of this job is interesting.

~Newt