Just 15 minutes from Manhattan is a bastion of environmental stewardship that defies is proximity to the world's financial capital. And Matt Ceplo, CGCS, has worked hard to make certain that Rockland Country Club in Sparkill, N.Y., is a place where acting as a steward for the environment and providing a great golf experience for members and guests can work hand in hand.Over the years, Ceplo has earned numerous awards and accolades for his work synchronizing Rockland and its members with the environment. His most recent honor came when he was elected to serve a four-year term on Audubon International's board of directors.
Ceplo, 54, replaces Dan Dinelli, CGCS at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Ill.
Ceplo guided Rockland to Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Status in 1999. Serving on the group's board of directors is, for him, akin to public service.
"It's an opportunity for me to give back to an organization that helped me learn and grow," Ceplo said. "Back in the day, if anyone had told me to take a class in ecology in college, I would have asked them why. Now, it would be the first thing I'd tell someone. I think it can't hurt to take some classes in ecology and minor in business. What I've always loved about Audubon is that it taught me what to do and what to look for so I could say we were managing the property in an environmental way. And it does so without a set of rules that are so strict you can't work with them. It allows you to do what you can with the property you have and the customers you have, because it recognizes that your first have to keep your customers happy.
"There is no way I can do as much for Audubon as it has done for me."
Since guiding Rockland to status as a Cooperative Sanctuary, Ceplo has expanded his involvement with Audubon International to become a member of the Audubon Steward Network and has been an advocate for various environmental initiatives, especially among fellow members of the Metropolitan Golf Course Superintendents Association and the Metropolitan Golf Association. Rockland Country Club was named a member of the New York State environmental leader's program in 2013.
"Matt is well-respected throughout the golf industry and recognized by his peers as a leader in environmental sustainability on the golf course," said Ryan Aylesworth, president and chief executive officer of Audubon International. "As a superintendent, he was an early-adopter of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses, and under his leadership the course earned certification over a decade and has been successfully re-certified seven times. Matt has also generously volunteered his time over the years to mentor other superintendents by serving as a member of the Audubon Steward Network. As a valued certified member of our program, Audubon Steward, and highly regarded golf industry professional, Audubon International has been benefiting from Matt's knowledge and experience for years. It is very exciting to have him join our Board, and I am confident our organization will benefit considerably from the well-informed perspectives he offers in this new role."
Ceplo conducts an annual bird count at Rockland, and recently, with the help of local naturalist and butterfly expert John Lampkin, completed the club's first butterfly count. At least 42 species of birds and 15 species of butterflies have been found at Rockland.In 2012, two local Girls Scout troops conducted a Monarch butterfly tagging day as part of a University of Kansas butterfly-tracking study, an annual fishing derby not only allows local children to have some fun, but also gives Ceplo a chance to teach others about the importance of water quality.
Those efforts helped him win the 2013 GCSAA President's Award for Environmental Stewardship.
He has installed areas with native plantings, areas he now calls "God's gardens" rather than native or natural areas, that help minimize inputs and also save in labor costs,
A new pumphouse that will open this spring will have a green roof that will be topped with drought-tolerant fescue rather than heat-absorbing asphalt shingles.
Ceplo sees his role as an environmental steward charged with managing a greenspace much the same way an artist would view a canvas.
"You have the ability and the open space to do so many things," he said. "Who has 20 acres top provide a butterfly habitat? How many other businesses can say ?we can help your flooding problems downstream by doing this, or doing that?' Nobody can. To manage this much land and property opens up a huge opportunity that few people or businesses have."
Ceplo spends a great deal of time educating Rockland's members on the possibilities that come with owning such a piece of property. He has formed an Audubon committee at the club, which includes at least one board member as well as representatives from outside Rockland's membership.
"You have to have an allegiance to your members," he said. "It's hard sometimes when you have an idea of what you want to do, but you have to go to the owners and tell them that what you want to do is going to cost them more money.
"But you still work in a profession where you have to have an allegiance to golf and to your profession."
Often education of members also is a refresher in economics.
When Ceplo converts part of the property to a native area, there are those who appreciate and those who do not.
"In fact, there are some who would be happier if you just mowed it all down," he said. "I tell them that's fine, but it's more expensive to do that, and here is how much it is going to cost you. That argument goes a long way. But if someone loses a $2.50 Titleist in an area that we just say is for butterflies, that's a hard argument to make."