THE HYDROGEOLOGIC RESTORATION OF GOLF COURSES TO WETLANDS

Wetlands have many important environmental, ecological, and societal benefits including maintaining biodiversity, improving water quality, and mitigating floods. With deforestation and land development increasing, restoring land to wetlands has become a crucial undertaking to save the future of ecosystems and water resources. This project seeks to quantify the current hydrogeology of two golf course sites slated to undergo restoration and to project what changes would be required for these to become functional wetlands. To determine what stage of wetland restoration the former Hickory Ridge golf course in Amherst, MA is in, streamflow, water table, and soil analysis were performed. Flow velocity was measured at an upstream and downstream site at Fort River from which discharge values will be calculated to determine if water is lost or gained going downstream. In addition, the water levels from four wells in Hickory Ridge will be compared to the water levels recorded in the partially restored Nashawannuck Brook to best determine if any part of Hickory Ridge qualifies as wetland yet. Wetland determination is based on three characteristics: Wetland vegetation, hydric soils, and saturation. It is expected that Hickory Ridge will have some evidence of these characteristics. Methods to accelerate the restoration will be proposed based on the findings. Wetland restoration efforts are becoming more popular as a way to reap the benefits of land that is no longer useful to industries and cannot be immediately repurposed for other means. The results of this project will contribute new knowledge and suggestions about restoring golf courses to wetlands.