Industry News

You are meant to play the ball as it lies, a fact that may help to touch on your own objective approach to life. --Grantland Rice

Creeping bentgrass disease warning issued

According to Lane Tredway, Ph.D., extension turfgrass specialist from North Carolina State University, some golf course superintendents in the eastern United States have been battling an unidentified disease in creeping bentgrass putting greens.

Green surface with disease, camera lens cap for perspective

The problem has been most prevalent in newly constructed greens and most of the cases have occurred in the Southeast. However, some cases have been observed in the Mid-Atlantic and northeastern states. Although the disease has been referred to as “summer crown rot,” this designation is not official because the pathogen has yet to be identified.

Two golf courses in the Raleigh, N.C., area observed mild symptoms of this disease in the fall and spring during relatively cool weather. One case occurred in November 2003 and another in March 2004.

More on the disease and possible courses of treatment is available on GCSAA Online.

Contact Tredway, mailto:lane_tredway@ncsu.edu.

Weather Service offers spring outlook

Following a highly variable winter, scientists from NOAA's National Weather Service say they expect drought to continue in parts of the West, but a below- normal risk of snowmelt flooding this year in the Midwest

“There is neither an El Niño nor La Niña in place; therefore, we expect a typical level of springtime variability in temperature and precipitation to occur in many areas of the nation,” said Conrad C. Lautenbacher, NOAA administrator. “Specifically, meteorologists predict an enhanced likelihood for below-normal temperatures in the northern Great Plains and above-normal temperatures in Alaska, the Southwest and parts of the South, for April through June. Above-normal precipitation is likely in the far Northwest and below-normal likely in Texas, parts of surrounding states, and most of Louisiana and Florida.”

This spring NOAA scientists also expect long-term precipitation deficits to decrease in parts of the northern and central Great Plains, while the water-supply deficits are expected to persist over many areas in the West, especially in much of Arizona and New Mexico. Dry soils from up to five dry years will absorb snowmelt runoff and reduce recharge of reservoirs, many of which are well below normal levels as a result of this multi-year drought.

In contrast to the gloomy water supply outlook in the West, limited snow cover both in the West and the northern tier states (near normal in many areas) makes spring snowmelt flooding less likely. One of the few areas of concern deep is snow cover in northeastern Montana that raises possibility of major flooding along the Milk River.

Overall, the 2004 fire season is expected to be near normal in terms of the expected number of fires and acres burned. However, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, much of the interior West, and particularly the Southwest, has above-normal fire potential due to the long-term drought conditions. Drought-stressed and/or insect-damaged vegetation continues to increase in the West, leading to a greater potential for large, destructive wildfires at middle to high elevations.

For more on this story, visit the NOAA news site.

Other online sources include the CPC's Seasonal Outlook, its Drought Assessment, or the National Fire Weather Page.

Eco-terrorist captured

Although no one in the law enforcement community thinks it will have much effect on eco-terrorism in the future, America's "worst domestic terrorist" is behind bars.

Michael Scarpitti, known as Tre Arrow, is one of the highest-profile members of the Earth Liberation Front, an eco-terror organization that has taken credit for more than $100 million in damage.

The capture of Scarpitti is not expected to have a dramatic effect on future attacks because of the highly decentralized nature of ELF. The organization has a Web site. but operates without leadership.

Among the kinds of action it promotes was the July 2001 attack on several Omaha, Neb., golf courses by three college students. NewsWeekly covered the story of their capture in the July 26, 2001 edition.

Complete coverage of Scarpitti's arrest, which resulted from his attempt to shoplift a set of bolt cutters in Victoria, British Columbia, is available on the ABC News Web site.