After Shutting Down, These Golf Courses Went Wild - The New York Times

Most defunct golf courses get paved over, but a number are getting transformed into ecological life rafts for wildlife, plants — and people. The San Geronimo Golf Course is being reclaimed and rewilded and is now known as San Geronimo Commons. Credit... Jim Wilson/The New York Times Supported by By Cara Buckley Cara Buckley, who is not a golfer, traveled to the San Geronimo Commons in Northern California to report on its transformation. There was scraggly grass in one sand trap and wooden blocks and a toy castle in another, evidence of children at play. People were walking their dogs on the fairway, which was looking rather ragged and unkempt. This was only to be expected. Nowadays, these grounds are mowed just twice a year, and haven’t been doused with pesticides or rodenticides since 2018, which was when this 157-acre stretch of land stopped being the San Geronimo Golf Course, and began a journey toward becoming wild, or at least wilder, once again. A small number of shuttered golf c

Most defunct golf courses get paved over, but a number are getting transformed into ecological life rafts for wildlife, plants — and people. The San Geronimo Golf Course is being reclaimed and rewilded and is now known as San Geronimo Commons. Credit... Jim Wilson/The New York Times Supported by By Cara Buckley Cara Buckley, who is not a golfer, traveled to the San Geronimo Commons in Northern California to report on its transformation. There was scraggly grass in one sand trap and wooden blocks and a toy castle in another, evidence of children at play. People were walking their dogs on the fa