EarthGolf

One of the more fascinating aspects of golf course construction is the moving/relocating of very large trees. The Daniel Island Club was recently honored for its tree preservation efforts on its newest course - a Rees Jones design called Ralston Creek.

The developer and golf course architect Rees Jones began working two years before construction started on Ralston Creek to plan a course routing that would impact the minimum number of trees. Once construction was underway, crews transplanted 42 oak trees and some 100 pine trees to other parts of the course, according to Jeff Elliott, senior project manager and land planner. Some of the oaks were at least 60 years old and had trunks as large as 31 inches in diameter, requiring one of the nation’s largest tree spades to aid in the transplanting process.

If you haven’t seen some of the moving operations done on large trees, it’s an amazing site. As shown in the picture, just about any tree can be moved. In fact, one company, Environmental Design, has moved trees on a number of projects - including several golf courses. The courses include Pebble Beach and Kiawah Island.

Environmental Design can move a tree weighing up to 1 million pounds. That weight limit exceeds just about any pavement in the Untied States - so they won’t be moving that 30 inch oak at your parent’s house in New York to your cottage in Maine, but they can move it within a property’s boundary assuming that site constraints like utilities, topography or other trees aren’t in the way.

There are also the standard tree spades, which can move trees of smaller diameter. That’s a fairly common practice on golf courses today - but to see an operation move a tree this big is impressive.

(Image Credit: Environmental Design)

Popularity: 6% [?]