Threatened Squirrels Can Call Golf Course Home, UF Researcher Says

April 18, 1997

GAINESVILLE — A threatened species of wildlife has turned to a decidedly civilized habitat in its quest for survival, says a University of Florida researcher.

Now wildlife ecologist Rebecca Ditgen is trying to determine how to make southwest Florida golf courses even more hospitable for Big Cypress fox squirrels.

“Our goal is to learn which courses have fox squirrel populations and what habitat features on those courses encourage the squirrels to live there,” said Ditgen.

With their own forested habitat vanishing as southwest Florida urbanizes, the fox squirrels, like many people, have turned to homes with a golf course view.

Very little is known about the Big Cypress fox squirrel, said Stephen Humphrey, acting dean of the College of Natural Resources and Environment.

“In the wild they are very shy, difficult to see, difficult to find and almost impossible to study. In fact we’ve tried to study them in the wild and failed,” Humphrey said. “But we found they’re abundant on golf courses on the urban fringe of the coast of southwest Florida.”

Ditgen said fox squirrels appear from field observations to be declining in the wild, but it is unclear why. In the city, however, the reason is plain to see.

“Development is happening so rapidly here and the prime land for development, the upland pines, is also their prime habitat,” Ditgen said. “They disappear shortly after intense development because they just don’t do well with cars and cats and dogs.”

Why the squirrels turned to golf courses for safe haven is a question Ditgen hopes to answer.

While her research requires her to spend enough time on the course to make avid golfers jealous, she says she is most likely to be found in the rough, scouring the trees and underbrush for squirrels fitted with radio collars.

As she visits 60 courses in Lee and Collier counties, she records data on the squirrel numbers and landscape design. By tracking 30 squirrels with radio collars on two courses, she can see how they are using their adopted habitat.

“Fox squirrels are native to pine forests with open understories and spend a lot of time on the ground, so golf courses with open pine and cypress stands are good habitat for them. They seem to do well there and can move around easily,” Ditgen said. “They do particularly well on courses with large stands of native palms and pines.”

The Big Cypress fox squirrels have been on the threatened species list for 20 years. They differ from a common gray squirrel because they are larger and their fur can be black, blond or red.

“They’re a very graceful squirrel, they leap and move around a lot and people find them beautiful to watch,” Ditgen said. “Certainly the native Floridians I talk to and the people who’ve been here a long time take real pride in having fox squirrels around. They like them a lot.”

In a four-year research project funded by the Nongame Bureau of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, Ditgen will come up with management recommendations golf course superintendents can use to improve habitat for fox squirrels.

Ditgen has already learned that the squirrels have large home ranges, often more than 100 acres, and that young adults often travel more than a mile in search of an adult home range. She also is studying their feeding and nesting habits.

Part of her research also includes a comparison of highly developed courses to those in more natural environments with no adjacent homes. In one area of Naples, she has found 50 to 70 squirrels sharing three 18-hole courses lush with cypress, pines, figs and maples — all prime habitat.

With national golfing organizations and some wildlife groups encouraging golf courses to design in a fashion that is friendly to regional wildlife, many course superintendents are eager to hear Ditgen’s recommendations.

Already, she said, she would recommend that courses plant more native vegetation to provide more year-round food sources for the squirrels. The exotic plants many courses use sometimes are more showy but frequently do not provide the best food for the animals.

Many golfers, curious about the remarkably bad golfer whose cart seems to stay in the rough, are pleased when they find out Ditgen is a researcher and interested in learning more about sharing their green space with the squirrels.

“The idea of looking at how wildlife can use golf courses has arrived,” Ditgen said.