Turfgrasses, Society and the Environment.

Turfgrass use and management is becoming increasingly regulated by a public desire to protect the environment.  Nutrient losses to ground and surface waters have been studied for many years and remain a source of public concern and regulations.  Nutrient losses from properly fertilized turf tend to be similar to non-fertilized prairie, and turf may have less sediment loss.  Ecological issues related to grasses themselves have also developed.  In the last 10 years, a number of commonly used turfgrass species have been listed as potentially invasive species as an outcome of President Clinton’s executive order 13112 which required states to identify and control invasive species.  The potential commercialization of genetically-modified turfgrasses has been halted due to concerns about invasiveness.  Data indicate that cool-season grasses are unlikely to prosper outside of regularly mowed environments, while information on warm-season grasses is lacking.  Following the Kyoto Protocol, some managers of large turf sites such as golf courses and turf farms have wondered about the ability of turfgrasses to sequester carbon, and their potential to become a source of revenue should a “cap-and-trade” system be developed.  Our data indicate that disturbed topsoil continues to act as a CO₂ source for several years after seeding prairie, forage, or managed turfgrasses.  The use of biosolids in turf production may help alleviate the need for synthetically-derived fertilizer and soil removal with the tradeoff of added CO2 emissions as biosolids are oxidized.  Turfgrass extension specialists have an increasingly important role in parleying information to the public to achieve fact-based legislation, and certain successes have been achieved with invasive species and water use, while results with nutrient and pesticide regulation have been more mixed.