Brevard County prevails against Malabar in fight over scrub Jays and shady trees
Malabar tried to stand up against Brevard County, which plans to saw down untold thousands of trees to make way for more threatened Florida scrub jays, gopher tortoises and other endangered wildlife that voters decided twice to protect. In the end, the town of just over 3,000 residents failed.
On Tuesday, Brevard County Commissioners decided to block off the Malabar Scrub Sanctuary's entrances until the town renews an expired permit for the county to remove the trees that block sunlight and hide raptors that feed on the threatened jays. The commission also decided to bill the town the cost of installing and removing those barriers.
Brevard also will look into the legalities of whether a clearing permit from the town is even required given that the sanctuary is on state conservation land. Brevard wants the sanctuary's tall pines and oaks thinned out by March, when scrub jays begin scouring the land for twigs and palmetto fibers to build their nests in smaller trees and shrubs.
"If this permit is extended, all this goes away," County Commissioner John Tobia said Tuesday. "I'm sorry it had to get this far."
Malabar residents have raised concerns about the county cutting down too many trees, especially the removing of some 100 oaks that provide a shady canopy along a stretch off trail that's popular among hikers, mountain bikers and joggers.
County officials estimate they'll have to remove 10,000 to 20,000 trees to bring the 577-acre sanctuary to the desired one or two acres per tree. Those who've walked, peddled and marveled along the canopied trails for years just don't get why so many trees have to go.
The town's greenways committee proposed a compromise plan that claimed fewer trees. But county officials said a scrub jay scientist and a review by Brevard's Environmentally Endangered Lands Program (EEL) science committee of that plan last Friday determined it was not compatible with the restoration needs of the site.
The sanctuary's forest thickened and cluttered up the open spaces scrub jays evolved to live in, due to decades of fire suppression to protect homes. Now the shady oak hammock that provides joy to hikers also provides good hideout perches for hawks to pick off jays at will.
Several local conservationists have spoken in favor of EEL's tree removal plan during Tuesday's meeting and at a commission meeting earlier this month. But some in the town counter that it all just seems too much, too fast.
"We learned about this when the signs went up," said Murray Hann, one of the roughly 400 members of the Brevard Mountain Bikers Association, which has been trying to get the county to scale back the tree cutting.
Malabar Town Manager Matt Stinnett said the town had issued a permit to the county, which had begun the land clearing project in early December. But when visitors saw a sign about the project posted at the sanctuary and brought concerns to the town's attention, town officials then noticed the county's permit had expired. And in the interim, the city's code had changed, now requiring a $40 per tree permit fee but not addressing conservation lands.
On Monday, Malabar Town Council directed Stinnett to work with the county "to negotiate modified permitting requirements that would be amenable to both the town and the county," and try to negotiate with the county on what trees might be able to be spared.
"I think we have an opportunity here if we can just hit the reset button," Stinnett told county commissioners Tuesday.
He said the town and county are close on the plan but Malabar just wants to prevent cutting trees without purpose. "We just wanted involvement," Stinnett added, "and I think we've had that , and I think we're very close to the same page."
Read more: Bicyclists, hikers and residents spar with Brevard over Malabar Scrub trees
But county officials say the EEL property tax referendums were approved by voters in 1990 and again in 2004 primarily to protect Florida scrub jays and other threatened species that require open scrub habitat, not for recreation.
EEL acquired Malabar Scrub Sanctuary in the 1990s — with the help of the state — to preserve scrub jays and other threatened species, with recreation the secondary reason, county officials emphasized. Five scrub jay families live on the sanctuary, or about 25 birds, county officials say. But many more would live there if the thick, tall trees were removed to restore the open sandy habitats the jays prefer. It's worked elsewhere, EEL officials say.
"There are (scrub) jays starting to show up in parts of Fox Lake where they did not exist prior to the restoration," Mike Knight, EEL's program manager, wrote in an email. "The best example of this type of work is the Cruickshank Sanctuary in Rockledge where there were no jays prior to restoration and within 4 years of the restoration the site had 6 new families with over 30 individual birds," he added. "Currently the population is far beyond that and exceeding what would be considered normal carrying capacity."
Under and agreement with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Brevard County would get 80% of the $5.05 per ton of pulpwood/mulchwood sold from cutting down the trees to offset the project's cost. The state would get the rest.
The agreement with FDACS includes cutting three in three areas totaling 1,127 acres: Malabar Scrub, Micco Scrub and Grant Flatwoods.
Knight told commissioners Tuesday that EEL had yet to calculate the projected revenue from the Malabar Scrub tree cutting project but suspected any net profit from the timber sales would be minimal.
The Florida Forest Service estimates revenue generated based on historical sales and other data. "For the Malabar Scrub portion (383 acres) of the referenced sale, 3,078 tons are estimated to be harvested," Caroline Stonecipher, an FDACS, spokeswoman wrote in an email. "At $5.05 per ton, the estimated value is $15,543.90," she said. "The total estimated value for all 1,127 acres included in the sale is $140,188."
But commissioners emphasized Tuesday that the tree removal is about the birds and the habitat, not about the money.
"My primary concern is of the scrub jay population," Tobia said.
Jim Waymer is an environment reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Waymer at 321-261-5903 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Or find him on Twitter: @JWayEnviro or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jim.waymer
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard County punishes Malabar in fight over scrub Jays and big trees
