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… for the last several million years at least 
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Seven Canyons, situated in a canyon in the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness area of central Arizona, was a picture-perfect example of a golf resort, its scenic panorama described by its general manager, Dave Bisbee, as “the Imax of golf”.
Ooh, scenic. It’s just too bad that it’s literally impossible to enjoy the beauty of the natural world just by, I don’t know, looking at it. Nope, you have to drive around in little carts making deals with other cigar chompers and then hit balls or some shit.
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There is no such thing. Those things are a blight on the landscape. The javelinas are improving the area and were also there first. Piss off, Em.
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I grew up in Texas, but the first time I ever saw a javelina was, sadly, in the form of a javelina head mounted on my dorm room wall by my roommate. It was the first thing I saw when I first went into the room right before my freshman year started. It was also wearing sunglasses, sporting a Bud Light hat, and had an unlit cigarette in its mouth. I knew then I probably wasn’t going to enjoy that roommate experience, and I didn’t. So I’m definitely on team javelina.
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Not just golf courses:
IIRC from Geography class (granted that was in 1990), they also grow iceberg lettuce out there (not even romaine or something else that’s better than just roughage).
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I looked up “javelina” in Wikipedia; it redirects to “peccary.” That article had this to say:
They can identify each other by their strong odors.
Having read that, I could not help but imagine the voice of Linda from Bob’s Burgers saying, “Aaawwww, just like people!”
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From the web site of that resort: “Seven Canyons is in perfect harmony with the natural environment and the spirit of Sedona.”
Unless the naturally occurring javelina interferes with their totally artificial turf expanses. With several herds of javelina wandering the plush water-sucking course, digging for roots, they need a new category. Tee, fairway, greens, battlefield.
The Arizona State Department of Game and Fish website states that:
- The department will sometimes remove javelina that are causing extensive property damage or have become aggressive toward humans. However, this is a last resort, and measures must be taken to remove attractants to prevent problems from recurring.
- Javelina are classified as a big game species.
- It is unlawful to injure or kill game animals, even if they are causing a problem, unless certain rigorous provisions under the law have been met.
- It is unlawful to trap javelina.
So they can fence the course, remove the turf that’s attracting them, open the area to hunters during javelina season (January and February) in hopes of reducing the population … or keep fixing the course.
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One of the Defector commenters points out that Sedona is at greater altitude than and gets a good deal more precipitation than, say, Phoenix (winter snow especially).
I still imagine that building golf courses there is not ecologically appropriate but not in the slam-dunk way that it is down in the valley.
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[apologies for pedantry:]
You’re in Austin, right? Ever wonder why the Capitol grounds are so green all the time? Or why Central Texas has so many golf courses? Turns out, we’ve been using these places for land application of treated effluent since the 1970s. The golf courses in many recently developed suburbs are very convenient disposal areas for the water-out after the water-in and water-has-been-used need to go… somewhere… that is also not a conventional, old-fashioned wastewater treatment plant (so expensive!) so very far away from where the sewage is being generated. (I elide package plants and MUDs here.)
Gobbless (I am only being half-sarcastic) them folks at Texas A&M for promoting this Best Practice of using a very specific kind of unpotable water in a particular context or three:
Use of Treated Effluent for Golf Course Irrigation
Water reuse is on the minds of golfing Texans in both the arid and rainy portions of the
state, as well as in ecologically delicate areas, such as Barton Springs and the Colorado River area. Many golf courses in Texas Hill Country near Austin have been irrigating with treated wastewater since the 1970s.
In fact, golf courses and water reuse have a symbiotic relationship in Central Texas golf courses. A main objective in around the Colorado River has been use of the fairways and greens as vegetative buffers providing tertiary wastewater treatment or wastewater
polishing (removal of suspended solids). That’s because many cities in the greater Austin area are prohibited from discharging wastewater into the Colorado River to prevent nutrient blooms and eutrophication.
An example of innovative treated effluent reuse is implemented at the environmentally
sensitive Barton Springs area, which is well-known for its clear, clean, high quality
waters. There, the Barton Creek Golf and Country Club uses treated wastewater and raw water from the Colorado River to irrigate more than 250 acres. Roughly half the
irrigation needs are supplied by Colorado River water, 40% are served by treated
wastewater, and nearly 10% originates from storm water runoff collected at ponds at the site. …
Another environmentally sensitive issue–overpumping of the Edwards Aquifer–is
driving efforts in San Antonio to develop a long-term plan that will supply treated
wastewater to a number of city courses. Overpumpage threatens endangered species that exist only in nearby San Marcos and Comal Spring and depend upon discharges from the Edwards for spring flows.
Agatha Wade helps market the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) wastewater reuse
system. She said that part of SAWS’ overall regional plan included developing regional “water factories” where wastewater is treated for reuse and distribution. Once available, the reuse water would be offered to public and private golf courses and will probably be used to augment flows in the San Antonio River along the famous downtown River Walk.
Wade expects that SAWS will be able to provide treated wastewater to as many as 10
private, public, and military golf courses by next summer. Each golf course will be
offered up to 400 AF [acre-feet].
Coming up with supplemental sources of irrigation like water reuse is also of major
interest in parched West Texas areas like Odessa and El Paso.
Page 12 (of the PDF file, not the document’s page number) of the City of Austin’s Utility Profile & Water Conservation Plan (2019):
Use of Treated Effluent
Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant uses approximately 2.85 million gallons per day (MGD) of treated effluent for plant washdown and chlorination/dechlorination. South Austin Regional (SAR) Wastewater Treatment Plant uses approximately 2.28 MGD of treated effluent for plant washdown and chlorination/dechlorination. Hornsby Bend uses an additional 0.5 MGD of treated effluent from SAR. Also, Hornsby Bend does on-site irrigation from an on-site pond system (not treated effluent from the plants).
Reclaimed Water System
Austin Water’s reclaimed water program began in 1974, when the Williamson Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant provided effluent for irrigation at the adjacent Jimmy Clay Golf Course. Since then, the reclaimed system has grown considerably. Now, more than 63 miles of reclaimed water mains and water lines run in specially colored purple pipes beneath Austin streets - and that length continues to increase.
Using reclaimed water benefits the potable water system by reducing demand for potable water for non-potable uses, including irrigation, cooling tower makeup, ornamental ponds, manufacturing, and toilet flushing. The water is clear with no odor and has been treated for virtually any use not requiring higher-quality drinking water.The City’s Water Reclamation Initiative, enacted in 1990, accelerated expansion of the reclaimed water system by establishing it as a key program for meeting current and future non-potable water demands. Highlights of this system expansion include:
• 2010 - the 51st Street Tower, which serves the central Austin area, was brought online.
• 2011 - the reclaimed system was expanded to Austin Bergstrom International Airport,
which is anticipated to save 25 million gallons of drinking water annually.
• 2012 - reclaimed water “filling stations” were created so tanker trucks could use this water for irrigation, road construction, dust control, and utility location.
• 2015 - began implementation of a requirement that new commercial developments or redevelopments within 250 feet of a reclaimed water main must connect for irrigation,
cooling and other significant non-potable water uses.
• 2017 - the Capitol Complex Reclaimed Water Main Project, serving in and around the state capitol, was completed.
• 2018 - the Junction 420 Main serving downtown Austin was completed.
The reclaimed water initiative, which is an integral part of Austin’s water conservation program, saves on average about 1.4 billion gallons of drinking water each year. With the adoption of Water Forward, Austin’s integrated water resource plan, the reclaimed water system is anticipated to see further expansion.
See also:
Oh and here’s a golf course just outside of the City of Drippin’ Spraings city limits gettin’ set up and ready for that city’s treated effluent to be piped in, it just happened to consume a terrifying amount of potable water (oopsie!) during our insane 2023 drought because are not quite ready for primetime poopwater:
All this just to say, Arizona’s more than likely doing the same thing we are.
People generate sewage.
Where’s it all gonna go?
Especially in far-off land developments, away from city infrastructure? It’s not like the developers are gonna pay to dig in and install a pipeline from their maximized-profit suburban land grab… they’d never make their money back.
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Personally I love a little spice on my meal, and hopefully the javelinas enjoy the free chili oil to give a little kick to the meal as much as they like the hundred-acre buffet.
Don’t build golf courses in a desert. Ever
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But rich people want to play, what other excuse do you need? /s
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Translation please?
Charming roly-poly critter.
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here’s some recent info on that
State records show there are 165 golf courses in the Phoenix area. They use various sources of water, including treated wastewater and Colorado River water. But more than half of the area’s courses rely at least partially on groundwater, together pumping roughly as much from wells as the average consumption of 130,000 single-family homes
and from the usga:
Nationwide, approximately 13% of golf courses use recycled water for irrigation. More facilities would gladly convert to using recycled water, but the main limitation is the lack of a piping system to deliver the recycled water to golf courses, which can cost $1 million per mile or more to install.
so, they could in theory do what you’re talking about, but the vast majority most don’t. and at least in arizona they’ve fought against it because it’s expensive to do
( eta: and it sounds like those that do, only reduce their consumption that way. they are still consuming potable water. in the desert )
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Are they sure it wasn’t this guy?
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Golf combines two of my least favorite things in the world (lawns and elitism). The thought of someone who really cares about golf being inconvenienced by one of my favorite things (cute native animals) warms my stony little heart. Team Javelina ftw!
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Couldn’t the golf club just put a fence round the outside of their course?
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