Green Daily

After Patricia's post, Is golf green? earlier this month, we're tackling the golf subject once more - this time, because the U.S. golfing industry is in a slump. So much so, in fact, that one course in Wisconsin might just turn itself over to a group that wants to turn it into an environmental sanctuary.

Squires Country Club is an 18-hole golf course overlooking Lake Michigan, near a town where new houses are going up rapidly. But if developers took over the club, a migratory bird corridor would be threatened.

So instead of handing it over to developers, the club's co-owner has decided to let the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust try to raise two and a half million dollars through government and private sources by November. If the Trust succeeds, the course will become a nature preserve.

The club's co-owner blames rising gas prices for tripling the cost to run mowers and golf carts, as well as a deterrent for golfers who drive their own cars to and from the club.