Nor is watching porcupine, coyotes, foxes and owls roam the 160-acre golf course, said Pitts, the base's natural resource manager. Even rattlesnakes don't rattle Pitts, who said the reptiles help rid the flight line of hawks by eating their food, such as mice.
Hawks can cause significant damage if sucked into a plane's engine.
One reason Dyess' Mesquite Grove Golf Course attracts so much wildlife is that it cut chemical and pesticide use on its turf by 92 percent. Efforts to conserve wildlife and water, and manage pests and water quality all contributed to the golf course's recent certification by the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary System, the educational division of Audubon International. All rights reserved.