Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary

Audubon International, working with the United States Golf Association (USGA), developed a program in the early 1990s called the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program (ACSP) for Golf. The idea was that while golf courses provide significant open spaces and needed wildlife habitat, they can have a negative impact on the environment through water consumption, and through chemicals that affect local water sources, wildlife species, and native habitats. Audubon International established a special program with six different project components, such as Environmental Planning and Wildlife and Habitat Management. When a golf course undertakes and completes projects in each of those components, it receives national recognition as a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary. There are a number of such courses in southwest Florida. The courses at Collier’s Reserve, West Bay Club, and Raptor Bay are among them.