- January 15, 2026
- By Annie Krakower
- Illustration by Kolin Behrens
- Photos courtesy of Laura Russell
TERPS TREKKING ACROSS the University of Maryland Golf Course might not just be looking for eagles and birdies beyond the fairways, but in the treetops.
The course, which hosts upward of 50,000 rounds of golf per year, also acts as a living classroom. It welcomes classes ranging from entomology to turf management, with Terps studying critters, sampling water and exploring biodiversity.
“That’s what we’re continuing to focus on: having environmental, recreational and educational benefits on the golf course,” says Laura Russell, who handles the course’s special projects. “It’s a multitasker.”
After a powerful storm surged through College Park in July 2022, uprooting 284 of the course’s trees, employees turned the destruction into an opportunity for growth. They used a university Sustainability Fund grant to add nearly 4,000 seedlings and other plants in the most damaged area, between the 15th and 16th fairways, transforming it into a pollinator meadow.
Through birds, blooms and bees, it adds to the many ways the course is sustainably supporting the UMD community. Tee off for a tour.
BIRDHOUSES
UMD’s chapter of the National Audubon Society installed six birdhouses throughout the new meadow, providing habitats for native species like swallows and bluebirds. The first babies hatched in June, and Terps completed a NestWatch report for inclusion in a national dataset.
BEE BOXES
To boost pollination, members of UMD’s Bee Campus Committee placed three mason bee boxes in the meadow last spring, with small cardboard tubes and mud for the insects to create their new digs. They’re 95% efficient pollinators—much better than honeybees, Russell says—and typically don’t sting.
NATIVE TREES
The D.C.-based environmental nonprofit Casey Trees planted 61 saplings, including holly, oak and magnolias, at the course’s entrance and along the fence line in 2024. “Some of it is for safety,” says Russell, as the trunks add an extra barrier between the fairways and Adelphi Road. “Besides that, they’re great at capturing carbon.”
OUTDOOR CLASSROOM
Educational signs and benches crafted from trees that fell during the storm make this area, surrounded by the pollinator meadow, a picture-perfect gathering space for classes. It also acted as a checkpoint during the 2025 international BioBlitz species-counting competition, where Terps placed third for the total number identified (353).
WATERSHED
The course’s creeks act as a filtration system: Runoff from Adelphi and Metzerott roads leaves the area much cleaner than when it enters. Last spring, an environmental science and technology class took water and soil samples to identify areas where this system could be bolstered, leading to successful watershed restoration near the 16th green and inspiring future projects.
Issue
Winter 2026Types
Campus Life