The "special scientific status" of the area where U.S. President Donald Trump built his first golf course in Scotland is "under review after environmental damage," a documentary revealed, according to Jeremy Watson of the LONDON TIMES. Scottish Natural Heritage said that Trump's Menie golf course on the Aberdeenshire coast "caused habitat loss and damage to the officially-protected dune system." The environmental agency said that it was "assessing the scale of the impact to decide whether all or parts of the site should lose their special status." The golf course covers part of the Foveran Links site of special scientific interest, north of Aberdeen, which was considered "one of the finest examples of a mobile sand dune system" in the U.K. The Trump Organization said that its environmental track record was "first class," but a scientist familiar with the area said it had been "ruined from a virgin undeveloped wilderness site into something that's relatively manicured." SNH, which objected to the golf course development, has been "monitoring its environmental impact" (LONDON TIMES, 11/9).
