The U.S. Naval Academy Plans a Golf Course on a Nature Preserve. One Maryland Congressman Says Not So Fast

A Maryland congressman has voiced sturdy opposition to the U.S. Navy’s plan to develop a golf course on a protected wildlife and pure sources sanctuary in Annapolis, generally known as the Greenbury Level Conservation Space, a 150-acre wetlands and forest bordering the mouth of the Severn River and the Chesapeake Bay.

“I’ve deep reservations about any proposal to transform this forested land to a golf course and restrict public entry to such an essential pure recreation space,” stated U.S. Rep. John P. Sarbanes, a Democrat who represents Maryland’s Third Congressional District. 

Sarbanes known as Greenbury Level is “a vital conservation space.” It buffers the Chesapeake Bay from nutrient air pollution whereas offering irreplaceable habitats for wildlife and entry to the Bay for the group. “I’ll proceed to watch this example carefully,” Sarbanes added, “and take each alternative to speak to the Navy my very own considerations and people of my constituents and space environmental teams.” 

The Navy has publicly acknowledged that Naval Help Exercise Annapolis (NSAA), which manages the land, is presently reviewing the proposal, including: “As soon as it goes via the Navy’s chain of command, it can go to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Vitality, Installations and Atmosphere) for overview.” 

The proposal has spurred widespread considerations amongst environmental and activist circles in Annapolis, who argue that the transfer negates Navy’s commitments to conservation efforts within the Chesapeake Bay and contradicts the Biden administration’s government order on local weather that units a purpose to preserve 30 % of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030. 

The brand new golf course will likely be adjoining to an current 18-hole course, which went via a $6 million renovation between 2020 and 2021, and caters to the Naval Academy golf groups, the Brigade of Midshipmen, energetic and retired army and civilian members. Since 2018, the renovations led to elimination of 191 timber, an evaluation by nonprofit group Chesapeake Conservancy discovered. 

House to wetlands and wetland forest, the peninsula incorporates a picturesque mix of wilderness, nature trails and scenic water views, and is residence to all kinds of plant and animal species. It lies throughout the vital space designated by the state of Maryland as essential to the well being of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. The positioning has additionally been used for mitigation to offset environmental prices the Naval Academy has incurred over time.

A Navy brochure describes the location as a “mission-supportive pure sources conservation space,” which “supplies a protecting overshot vary and an open land space periodically used for midshipmen coaching.” It mentions {that a} federal regulation generally known as the Sikes Act requires that the location is “managed to revive and improve its pure sources.” Public entry to the land is restricted every time the taking pictures vary is in use for midshipmen coaching.  

It is without doubt one of the 4 areas within the neighborhood vulnerable to coastal flooding, sea degree rise and storm water impression below the USNA Army Set up Resilience Plan for Annapolis.

The U.S. has a purpose of reaching net-zero emissions no later than 2050 and the nation might want to enhance the power of lands and forests to sequester carbon to succeed in that purpose, stated Haley Leslie-Bole, of the World Sources Institute. It additionally wants to guard the ecosystems that already retailer carbon, she added, which suggests stopping the conversion of forest land to different land makes use of. “Eradicating a forest to construct a golf course can be shifting us additional away from reaching our local weather objectives,” Leslie-Bole stated.

Golf programs are recognized to contribute important vitamins and chemical compounds to close by water our bodies, leaching nitrogen and phosphorus into the water. Having a golf course subsequent to the Chesapeake Bay will jeopardize efforts to realize the 2025 objectives set for the Bay, advocates stated, particularly in view of the numerous enhance in nutrient air pollution within the bay final 12 months. The Chesapeake Bay Program is already struggling to satisfy its wetlands conservation objectives as a part of the 2014 Chesapeake Bay settlement, environmental advocates stated.

A 2017 research discovered that 1,500 18-hole equal golf programs closed throughout the U.S. between 2006 and 2016, with 200 of those amenities shuttered nationwide in 2016 alone. “Golf course amenities are predicted to proceed to shut for a number of extra years,” the analysis stated, and added that turning golf programs into parks or open areas can be “a wise various” as a result of parks help recreation, ecosystem enhancement, stormwater detention and concrete wildlife habitat. 

Group Takes on Large Navy 

Jennifer Crews-Carey, 56, has lived, and served, in Annapolis all her life. It’s town the place she was raised, and she or he patrolled its streets and neighborhoods as a police officer for twenty-four years earlier than retiring in 2014. 

Her tattooed arms categorical her emotions for the state and its capital metropolis. There’s a purple thistle, which is the flower on town flag, and a monarch butterfly, “as a result of it has Maryland’s colour,” she stated, describing the artwork etched on her pores and skin.   

“There’s the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and Thomas Level Lighthouse,” she went on. “Rock fish as a result of that’s our state fish. The blue crab as a result of we’re recognized for blue crabs. And the blue herring as a result of it’s one of many birds that navigates via the Chesapeake Bay. So, it’s all sort of tied to Maryland.”

Now working full time for town’s 911 service, Crews-Carey stated she finds herself within the trenches, pushing again in opposition to the Navy—a stealthy and influential participant, she stated, that’s used to doing enterprise by itself phrases. “It’s going to be a great battle,” she stated.

The rumors began circulating over a 12 months in the past that the Navy was scoping out potential places for a brand new golf course, Crews-Carey stated. “However we had not seen any plans and weren’t certain precisely what was happening.” In Could, her pal Sue Steinbrook, one other resident-turned-activist, came upon from a fellow walker she met on the path that it was Greenbury Level that the Navy had recognized for the brand new course.

That very same day, Crews-Carey received on her laptop computer and established a web based group known as “Save Greenbury Level” to share info and manage on-line and in-person campaigns to guard the wildlife and nature sanctuary. The group has swelled to nearly 2,000 members. 

“We discovered in Could {that a} public assembly was scheduled to debate the undertaking in Windfall,” stated Crews-Carey, referring to a small group near the Greenbury Level. “We shared the information on our on-line web page and our members have been prepared to point out up. However then the assembly was abruptly canceled. After which the rescheduled assembly additionally received canceled,” she added.

She and her pal, Steinbrook, have since teamed as much as get the phrase out on the road, speaking to folks round Annapolis, and handing out hand-painted rocks etched with the phrases “Save Greenbury Level.” Others made cellphone calls, created on-line petitions and filed info requests asking the Navy to supply details about the proposed golf course. 

On June 30, the Navy launched a replica of an official correspondence, which laid out the plan in broad particulars.  

“Now we have began to discover choices to assemble a brand new golf course on the land generally known as Greenbury Level on the Naval Help Exercise Annapolis, ” wrote Chet Gladchuk, president of the Naval Academy Golf Affiliation (NAGA) to the Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro on Feb. 15. 

The course will likely be designed within the “most environmentally delicate manner potential,” Gladchuk wrote, including that the plan included a strolling path for the group, a berm for defense from “hazardous materials on website,” and mitigation of the lack of timber and conservation space. 

Gladchuk requested Del Toro to help the undertaking by authorizing a “sole supply negotiated lease settlement with NAGA ” to develop and use the Greenbury Level land for the brand new golf course. 

The Navy stated “a sole-source lease is a sort of lease settlement that the Navy can subject with out a aggressive bidding course of and may solely be approved by the Secretary of the Navy.” 

“This can allow us to begin the lease negotiations and to begin the design course of with a transparent manner ahead and a extra compressed timeline,” the letter stated. Gladchuk concluded the letter by saying he meant to go to the Navy secretary and share the plans in particular person.

In a Could 6 letter, James B. Balocki, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Navy, suggested Gladchuk to route the lease request via Navy channels. “Approval requests for leasing actions should come from a Division of the Navy element,” he wrote.

The Navy has since refused to share any additional particulars of the undertaking, saying: “We’re unable to share the NAGA proposal. Any paperwork relating to the proposal are thought of inside and deliberative and unavailable for launch.” 

A coalition of 20 environmental organizations despatched a joint letter to Secretary Del Toro, saying that NAGA and Naval Help Exercise Annapolis maintain refusing their requests for info, urging him to reject the proposal and switch the property to the Nationwide Park Service or the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service as an alternative. 

The advocates additionally hope Meredith Berger, the assistant secretary of the Navy for power, installations and surroundings, recognized for her pro-environment stance, would cease the undertaking from shifting ahead. The proposal would proceed if Berger finds that it will help and improve the mission of NSA Annapolis.  

A Convoluted Association

The main determine behind the proposed golf course is Gladchuk, Naval Academy’s director of athletics, who can also be president of the Naval Academy Athletic Affiliation (NAAA) and Naval Academy Golf Affiliation. 

NAAA, a non-federal entity, runs the Naval Academy’s sports activities packages. It hires coaches, negotiates media contracts, manages the stadium, arranges video games and oversees the Navy’s athletic funds of over $40 million, a 2016 report stated.  

NAGA, one other non-governmental entity, manages the present 18-hole members-only naval academy golf course and would assemble the brand new golf course on Greenbury level. 

“NAGA can be answerable for paying the land lease and the value of any enhancements or adjustments made to the property,” stated the Navy, including that NAGA will determine who makes use of the course. 

Each non-public organizations—NAGA and NAAA—compensate Gladchuk for his companies as president. In keeping with publicly obtainable tax returns filed by NAGA between 2015 and 2018, Gladchuk made nearly $7 million in wage and bonuses from NAGA alone. 

NAAA’s tax filings for a similar time interval, or the earlier years, weren’t obtainable. Gladchuk has run it as president for over twenty years. A 2018 editorial within the Capital Gazette praised Gladchuk’s general efficiency however  chided NAAA, which advantages from federal funding in addition to non-public contributions, for an absence of transparency and working behind a veil of secrecy, and urged it to reveal its monetary statements. 

As Athletics Director, Gladchuk doesn’t draw a wage from the Naval Academy. He works “in a voluntary companies capability,” stated Alana Garas, public affairs officer to the superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy. 

“Mr. Gladchuk will not be a federal worker and isn’t compensated by the Naval Academy, the Division of Protection or the federal authorities,” Garas stated, including that his wage is supplied by the Naval Academy Athletic Affiliation. 

In a latest letter, three environmental teams—the Severn River Affiliation, Chesapeake Conservancy and Chesapeake Bay Basis—expressed concern concerning the new golf course to Marylands’ two U.S. senators, Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, each Democrats. “The prospect of a authorities company leasing public land for unique use by a non-public golf affiliation and its members raises severe considerations about truthful market competitors and public advantages,” the teams stated. It will be inappropriate for the federal authorities to successfully subsidize a non-public golf affiliation by leasing public land for a non-public golf course, they wrote. 

The advocates requested if the association permits the Navy to skirt common governmental channels on tasks that may in any other case contain regulatory scrutiny and oversight. 

In the meantime, as public info requests filed by advocates have piled up in latest weeks,  the Navy has created an FAQ web page to handle public considerations. 

In response to the queries concerning the specifics of the undertaking, the FAQs repeat what the Navy has maintained all through the controversy: “There isn’t a undertaking presently. All now we have is an idea proposal.” In response to questions concerning the environmental impacts of the proposed golf course, the Navy stated, “we can not say what the impacts will likely be at this level” as a result of creating a brand new golf course is “only a proposal.” 

“The clandestine course of used to advance this proposal and the dearth of public engagement makes a mockery of our democratic system,” stated Joel Dunn, president and CEO of the Chesapeake Conservancy, an environmental nonprofit. “If the Navy approves this proposal, it can detract from their latest sturdy conservation report and undermine their credibility as a number one companion within the Chesapeake Bay Program,” he added.

An Archeological and Wildlife Treasure-Trove with a Sprinkle of Contamination 

Whereas Crews-Carey’s keystrokes stored the net campaigning brimming with power, Steinbrook stated she confronted a dilemma: The destiny of her ardour undertaking, a pictorial e book on Annapolis’ historic properties, rests on what occurs to Greenbury Level in days forward. 

“I needed to incorporate a chapter on Greenbury Level due to its wealthy historical past,” she stated. A prescription drugs salesperson for 18 years, Steinbrook considers Greenbury Level an archeological treasure trove that must be a historic landmark. 

Within the mid-1600s, Puritan exiles from Virginia based the city of Windfall at Greenbury Level. The Susquehannock Indians inhabited the world on the time of European settlement in 1649, in line with a Navy historical past.

“Archeological proof signifies indigenous peoples have occupied the coastal area of Maryland from the Paleo-Indian/Early Archaic interval via the Woodland interval,” the Naval Help Exercise Annapolis’ Built-in Pure Sources Administration Plan (INRMP) stated. It’s the coverage doc that governs the land administration actions of army places of work such because the NSAA, which manages Greenbury Level.

The NSAA’s built-in administration plan identifies the peninsula as a “Conservation Space” not appropriate for growth. It requires that any new growth “have to be cognizant of potential pure and cultural sources constraints akin to wetlands, floodplains, and Chesapeake Bay Crucial Space standards.” 

Nature sanctuaries on army lands are protected below the Sikes Act, handed in 1960 and amended in 1977 to require the Pentagon to arrange and implement INRMPs. Underneath the Sikes Act, any lease or a sale settlement of army land ought to adjust to Built-in Pure Sources Administration Plans for that space. 

Yearly reviewed by the Protection Division, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and any related state company, all army installations are required below the Sikes Act to maintain their INRMPs present. 

The NSAA has not issued its newest built-in administration plan. It says on-line that the  INRMP ”is presently being up to date.” On its FAQ web page, the Navy stated the proposal for a golf course won’t be talked about within the present INRMP replace as a result of it’s “only a proposal.” 

If the proposal receives approval, then an environmental evaluation can be carried out to replace the INRMP with the change of use of Greenbury Level, the Navy stated. “A golf course undertaking would require an [environmental impact statement]  which might additionally mandate a public remark interval,” the Navy stated, including that it has the authority to vary the designation of land to satisfy operational wants and necessities.

The peninsula can also be protected by the Nationwide Environmental Coverage Act (NEPA), and the Navy stated adjustments to its meant use would require an environmental evaluation. A golf course on the peninsula would additionally set off a number of federal and state legal guidelines, together with the Coastal Zone Administration Act, Clear Water Act and a number of allowing necessities. 

Steinbrook stated there’s a sample to the Navy’s  land acquisitions practices. “The Navy has a historical past of attempting to slowly encroach on Annapolis and earn cash from our little Historic District,” she stated.  

Previously a army website, the world hosted 19 Eiffel Tower-styled radio towers till 1999, used for submarine communication. Solely three of the towers stay standing right this moment on Greenbury Level, offering navigation help and lending the world its signature look. 

Lead paint on the towers led to contamination, and the Navy carried out a clean-up operation to excavate and take away tainted soil. “Excavation of contaminated soil to satisfy elimination motion objectives was accomplished within the 1st quarter of 2003,” the Maryland Division of the Atmosphere stated in an evaluation. 

The MDE stays involved, nevertheless, over the presence of hazardous supplies on and across the peninsula—considerations echoed by NAGA’s golf course proposal, which mentions establishing a berm to defend in opposition to hazardous supplies on website. 

Over time, nature has returned to the peninsula. “The world is residence to over 480 completely different plant and animal species,” stated Jessy Oberright, chief of the Greenbury Level Biodiversity Mission.  She stated the location is an e-bird hotspot the place 172 species, together with the globally threatened horned grebe, have been noticed. 

“The world is a crucial nesting space for Osprey and Bald Eagles,” the Division of the Atmosphere evaluation stated. “The habitat afforded from the undisturbed open space on Greenbury Level supplies vital habitat for quite a lot of wildlife.” The evaluation famous {that a} wildlife schooling middle screens the migration patterns of the Monarch Butterfly via a tag and launch program. 

“A number of weeks in the past, we managed to get three video recordings with the northern bobwhite quail calling, final documented in 2012. We thought that they’d been misplaced from that habitat,” Oberright stated. Eradicating that biodiversity means fragmenting that land into simply small chunks of habitat, she stated, and “will likely be devastating.”