Regarding it as an "historic effort" with "potentially national implications," representatives of many of Long Island's leading environmental, breast cancer action, educational, and community organizations held a press conference to announce the launching of "Organic Golf," a cutting edge cooperative project aimed at improving environmental practices at Long Island's golf courses.

Neal Lewis, director of the Long Island Neighborhood Network, stated, "Organic Golf is bringing together 20 Long Island organization's green's industry professionals, and key public officials with the common goal of applying the methods developed for organic gardening and farming to the management of golf courses." Lewis continued, "We believe that during the 1998 season we will see the first fully organic golf courses in operation on Long Island. Long Island golf courses have the potential to become national leaders for environmental protection."

Organic Golf is based upon the belief that Long Island golf courses can and should be managed in a fashion that is not harmful to either the environment or public health.

The primary goal of Organic Golf is to see all Long Island golf courses reduce and work toward the goal of ultimately eliminating synthetic pesticide use by implementing organic management practices at existing golf courses, and to support an organic standard for the construction of any new LI golf courses.

Organic Golf is an outgrowth of Another Way to be Green, Learning with Golf Course Innovators, a project that brought environmentalists and golf course superintendents together to share information on techniques to reduce pesticide use at golf courses. Two golf course superintendents are members of the Steering Committee of Organic Golf including: Skip Wade, who originally pioneered pesticide reduction efforts at Cherry Valley, and Phil Anderson who is featured in the current issue of Golf Digest (for their environmental leaders in golf award) for reducing his pesticide budget by 93 percent.

The Rauch Foundation Executive Director Elisabeth Marx announced on April 22, Earth Day) that the Rauch Foundation has awarded an $19,900 grant to finance the launching of the Organic Golf Project. The Neighborhood Network Research Center is the fiscal agent for the grant.

Among the environmental organizations involved are the Lake Success Environmental Commission, the Great Neck Breast Cancer Coalition and the Plainview/Old Bethpage Breast Cancer Coalition. For more information, call Neal Lewis at the Long Island Neighborhood Network, 541-4321.