Environment

Environmental Stewardship

With a name like GlenArbor, it comes as no surprise that conservation is of deep concern to the club and its members. GlenArbor is home to a diverse number of animals, trees, birds and aquatic species. With its many centuries-old specimen trees, nine bodies of water, creeks and numerous wetland buffers, GlenArbor continually embraces its members in splendor. Rather than remaining passive to this magnificent environment, GlenArbor has implemented an Environmental Enhancement Program that augments the natural habitat and native species. As part of this program, GlenArbor has planted more than 3,000 trees and shrubs along with five acres of wild flowers and over 20,000 daffodil bulbs. At the core of the club’s wildlife preservation efforts is the very comprehensive and award winning Bluebird Program that was initiated in 2002. It was not long ago that the state bird of New York was on the endangered species list. It has been very rewarding to the club to help this beautiful song-bird repopulate.

Bluebird boxes are positioned throughout the golf course and are monitored weekly throughout the nesting season with the help of an outside auditor. Since the Bluebird Program's inception in 2002 the club has fledged a total of 809 Bluebirds. In 2010, GlenArbor was selected by the Cornell University’s Department of Ornithology as a preferred site for some of their Eastern Bluebird research projects.

In 2009, GlenArbor created a highly interactive environmental education program that provides insights into the bluebird habitat, aquatic life, photosynthesis and being good stewards of the land. The program is presented to local elementary school students in the classroom and at GlenArbor.

Bluebird - Image and Impressions

Environmental Stewardship Awards
- GlenArbor is the only golf club that has been awarded the “Environmental Stewardship Recognition Award” by the North American Bluebird Society , a non-profit conservation, education and research organization.
  
  The Metropolitan Golf Association Foundation named GlenArbor as the recipient of the 2010 Arthur P. Weber MGA Club Environmental Leaders in Golf Award, named after the late MGA President Arthur P. Weber, whose efforts in environmental awareness were groundbreaking. According to the MGA “ GlenArbor demonstrated environmental stewardship through golf course maintenance, construction, education and research”. Winning this award was a testament to the club’s core values and the continued commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability.
  
  GlenArbor was awarded the 2012 Bedford Conservation Board “Green Award”
  
  The Town of Bedford Conservation Board has developed a new “Green Award” program to recognize individuals, not for profit organizations, schools, municipal agencies and departments, community based groups, and businesses for outstanding environmental contributions to our town.
  
  The awards are for projects, programs, and initiatives which contribute to the protection and preservation of the environment, which includes our natural resources, open space, native landscapes, and biodiversity of local and regional habitats, as well as the promotion of recycling, conservation of energy, and protection of historic landmarks and districts.
  
  The Green Award was presented on Tuesday, May 1st at the Town of Bedford Town Hall:
  
  GlenArbor Golf Club
  Eastern Bluebird preservation and educational project that has 26 nesting boxes situated throughout the golf course where nearly 1000 bluebirds have been fledged and released since the program’s inception in 2002. Golf Course Superintendent Ken Benoit, along with a local bluebird expert and Bedford resident, Tom Myer, monitor and record the nesting boxes and audit the number of bluebirds which fledge.

Environmental Stewardship

GlenArbor was awarded the 2012 Bedford Conservation Board “Green Award”