Duran Golf Club Strengthens its Environmental Focus

The centerpiece of the expansive residential community of Viera, the semi-private Duran Golf Club, a Chip Powell special design, is trying to lessen its environmental footprint ever since it became an Audubon Certified Sanctuary in 2020. It recently put up a 20-foot Osprey pole and platform nest alongside a lake and a wetlands area that borders #10 on Duran's 18 hole golf course, where the raptors can hunt for fish and be safe from wayward shots.

The pole is constructed from pressure-treated timber, and the 3-foot-by-3-foot platform that sits atop the timber has wire-mesh flooring. A predator guard- an aluminum flashing that stretches around the pole-prevents potential predators from getting a grip if they tried to climb it.

The idea for the project arose during the club's bi-annual Resource Advisory Group meeting, where committee members and Golf Course Superintendent Andrew Norman brainstorm various projects and improvement plans to enhance the property. In addition, the club has installed multiple birdhouses throughout the course in recent years where red-bellied woodpeckers have inhabited them and created nests. Other environmentally friendly projects at the property include the construction of a pollinator garden to attract butterflies, bees and hummingbirds adjacent to the large practice putting green.

"We have installed smaller versions of the gardens in a couple of spots on the golf course as well," said Norman. "A few years ago we took an area that was ugly and hard to maintain and created a wetlands habitat for birds and smaller animals. In the near future, we will be planting a monarch butterfly garden near our ninth tee box."

The City of Viera and many local organizations have praised the Duran Golf Club for its commitment to the environment. The recognition is a well-deserved point of pride for the Club's staff who helped raise the pole and maintain the gardens. Community education and outreach are some of the pillars that the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program stands on.

"If we don't protect our waterways and wildlife, who will?" adds Norman. "Golf courses as a whole get a bad rep as being entities that destroy the environment, when in real life, it's quite the opposite."