Delicate Yet Deliberate
Tumwater Valley growing golf without trampling on precious resources
By Dave Nickerson
The city of Tumwater in Washington is showcasing its largest community asset to more than just golfers, and it’s working!
Tumwater Valley Municipal Golf Club is home to 18 holes of championship play. The challenging course tests all ability levels. It features views of Mount Rainier and the Deschutes River that meanders through a tranquil setting. In addition, it boasts the finest practice facilities in the area with a 10-acre grass-tee driving range and a practice putting and chipping green, complete with an oversized practice bunker.
Environmentally Speaking
In 2019, Tumwater became the first municipal course in the state to earn Salmon-Safe certification. This designation means the city is proactively and significantly improving the environmental health of the 200-acre golf course alongside the Deschutes River.
David Burger, executive director of Stewardship Partners, and who leads the Salmon-Safe golf program in Washington, presented the certification at a recent city council meeting.
The club has passed Salmon-Safe’s comprehensive, third-party evaluation of the course’s land- and water-management practices. These have gone above and beyond regulatory requirements, and the course is committed to further reducing its environmental impact over time. This includes:
• Minimizing impacts of golf course operations on sensitive aquatic and land resources
• Restoring riverbanks, wetlands, and natural areas
• Protecting downstream water quality through landscape-management practices and responsible water use.
Photo: TPRD Staff
“The Tumwater Valley Golf Course provides many benefits to our residents, and enhancing salmon habitat is another opportunity we’re excited to undertake,” says Pete Kmet, mayor of Tumwater. “We’re proud to have earned a Salmon-Safe Certification and look forward to further enhancing our operations to benefit salmon.”
The science team found that the golf club currently implements many practices in accordance with Salmon-Safe standards, particularly related to water use, landscape maintenance, and habitat preservation and restoration. The golf course uses approximately 43-million gallons of reclaimed wastewater from the LOTT Budd Inlet Treatment Plant needed to irrigate the course each year. Multiple habitat-restoration projects have been implemented along the Deschutes River since 1996, with additional projects planned for the future.
“As the operator of Tumwater Valley, Washington’s first municipal golf course to achieve Salmon-Safe certification, the city … can be a leader in reducing the impacts of our cities on Puget Sound,” Burger says. “We look forward to working closely with the city … as it raises the bar for environmental management within the golf industry.”
To maintain this certification, Salmon-Safe has defined 10 conditions for the city through 2024, with various milestones along the way. The city’s parks and recreation staff will carry out the work associated with maintaining the certification, from landscape management and habitat development to innovative stormwater-treatment projects.
Growing The Game
In addition to the certification accomplishment, there is creative, year-round programming being facilitated on this 200-acre golf facility. Tumwater Parks and Recreation is committed to focusing on local youth and growing the game of golf. For the last five years, Tumwater Valley has partnered with First Tee of South Puget Sound to offer classes to young players in the region. First Tee works strategically to serve at-risk and underprivileged youth who would not otherwise have a chance to experience the game. First Tee coaches weave golf and character-building activities into each lesson, helping children become more equipped to make good choices both on and off the course. “We are proud to be the signature course for the largest junior-golf program in the South Puget Sound area,” says Russ Olsen, Director of Instruction. More than 350 youth participate annually in Tumwater Valley First Tee offerings. The program has become a feeder to the Valley Golf Academy, which is designed to prepare junior players to compete at high-school and collegiate levels. In addition, Tumwater Valley has partnered with Special Olympics to be the host site for 30 Special Olympics golfers.
What truly sets Tumwater Valley apart from other courses are the numerous community events sponsored by the parks and recreation department. These events attract both golfers and non-golfers of all ages. “Our vision is not only to provide quality conditions and a fantastic golf value, but also to be creative with scheduling in and around our daily play in an effort to attract as many non-golfers as possible,” says Chuck Denney, the parks and recreation director. “We have hosted everything from high-school proms on the driving range to fun runs along our cart paths, outdoor movie nights, craft beer festivals, fundraising events for local charities, and our largest annual community celebration—the Fourth of July Artesian Family Festival and Thunder Valley Fireworks Show. These events continue to grow in popularity each and every year, with over 20,000 attending 2019’s July Fourth celebration. It’s exciting to see this facility being utilized for more than golf. Community members are now referring to this property as Tumwater’s outdoor community center.”
Future events are taking shape as staff members begin planning a night-time Easter egg hunt for teens to be held in spring of 2020, under the driving range stadium LED lighting. Stay tuned as Tumwater continues to pave the way in creatively scheduling and utilizing an amazing asset that is proving to benefit the entire community through quality recreational opportunities and events.
Dave Nickerson is the Operations Manager for Tumwater Valley Golf Club in Washington. Reach him at dnickerson@ci.tumwater.wa.us.