SportsTurf

April 2011

SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.

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FieldScience | ByChris Harrison ter (SOM) dynamics and carbon sequestra- tion capacity in various ecosystems. WHAT IT IS Carbon sequestration is simply the long- term storage of carbon dioxide. CO2 stor- age is necessary as a part of controlling How sports turf helps reduce I T MIGHT TURN OUT THAT GOLF FAIRWAYS, football fields and other sports turf areas are the “good guys” when it comes to the earth’s carbon footprint. Although sports turf has been much ma- ligned in the general press recently, re- searchers at Colorado State University, Fort Collins have proved that established turf does great things for carbon sequestration. The next step in their research is to develop metrics that predict the impact of carbon sequestration in turfgrass. Early results are eye-opening. For starters, undisturbed turf will lock up one climate change. CO2 can be stored either geologically or in terrestrial ecosystems, ac- cording to the National Energy Technology Laboratory. NETL is part of the U.S. De- partment of Energy’s national laboratory system and is operated by the DOE. NETL supports DOE’s mission to advance the na- tional, economic, and energy security of the United States. “This is the kind of information turf managers need to broadcast,” says Tony Koski, professor and extension turf special- ist at Colorado State. Determination of carbon pools in urban the carbon footprint metric ton of carbon per hectare per year. In English, that is about 0.44 tons of car- bon per acre annually. “The strength of this research is that it covers multiple years and is based on very good data,” says Yaling Qian, professor of horticulture and landscape architecture at Colorado State. She notes that some other studies, a few of which do not have nice things to say about recreational turf, are based on far fewer data sets. Recent global concerns over increased at- mospheric CO2, which can potentially alter the earth’s climate systems, have resulted in rising interest in studying soil organic mat- turfgrass soils will shed light on the role of turfgrass systems in contributing to terres- trial carbon, Koski says. Koski says the results of this research support a better understanding of the roles carbon sequestration and carbon emissions play in the management of sports turf and what impact operational activities have on the environment. At present, Qian is looking for research funding to support graduate students who will establish models for determining car- bon sequestration. “We need to be able to project the impact of land use,” she says. The models would weigh climate, soil type, management style and prior land use— among other variables—in a database file. The results would not only help turf man- agers see the impact of what they do but also would help lawmakers determine the value of keeping open green areas open and green. A one-acre soccer field removes carbon equivalent to driving a car OVER 3,000 MILES. 8 SportsTurf | April 2011 www.sportsturfonline.com

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