Plantation Point Fact Sheet
Scrub and wetlands support 75% of the listed species in Brevard County.
The Florida scrub jay is the only endemic bird species in the state of Florida.
The 96 acre "Plantation Point" formerly "Pine Acres" natural communities consist of 9 wetlands, scrub and scrubby pine flatwoods.
The development proposed by Forte Macaulay Development Company Inc. will mitigate all but 10% of the scrub jay habitat rendering the land unfit for survival of this Federally Listed Species.
The development will also require mitigation of a 72 acre colony of State Listed Gopher Tortoise and all the commensual species (there are over 300 species that utilize the burrows for survival, some of which are also Federal and State listed).
This diverse Plantation Point property is well documented as "5S" throughout the Rockledge Conservation Study and was given the highest priority ranking for preservation along with the 141acre Cruickshank Property which was purchased by the Environmentally Endangered Lands Program (EEL's). The Conservation Study was conducted in 1991 by Dr. Hillary Swain and graduate students at Florida Institute of Technology (FIT).
This property consists of 1/3 wetlands,1/4 scrub-jay habitat, and 3/4 gopher tortoise habitat.
The Florida scrub jay, at least two families and at least 9 jays, are utilizing 26 of the acres and 72 acres are being utilized by gopher tortoises.
The site contains 8 wetlands. Five of the wetlands are fresh water marshes, the remaining 3 wetlands are wet prairie.
A portion of the Plantation Point property is within the Core Reserve Area identified for the Florida scrub jay in Central Brevard County and all of the property has been approved by the State of Florida as Conservation and Recreational Lands (CARL) project.
The rezoning of this piece of land and eventual development will fragment the population of the Florida scrub-jay in Central Brevard, isolating the existing family at Cruickshank Sanctuary from the population to the South in Viera, and could ultimately result in the extinction of the Florida scrub jay in Rockledge.
The 141acre Cruickshank Sanctuary (County Environmentally Endangered Lands purchase), once managed, could support five territories of scrub jay.
The 97 acres provides critical habitat, and serves as a central corridor for jays and other wildlife traveling to the Cruickshank Sanctuary.
Fragmentation and urbanization of habitat results in decreased demographics success, an increase in introduced predators, and makes restoration efforts and use of prescribed fire more difficult (Breininger 1999).
Florida scrub jays are cooperative breeders; young remain with their parents for at least a year and assist in territory defense, predator identification/mobbing, and nesting care.
When habitat is contiguous, these helpers (young from prior years) can view breeding vacancies in surrounding territories without having to make dispersal forays that often result in mortality.
The Florida scrub jay has a limited dispersal capability, which is significant because of the isolating influence it has on scrub jay populations.
Isolated small populations of scrub jays have a high probability of extinction.
The Plantation Point property is an important corridor for dispersal between the Cruickshank and Viera populations.
If the Cruickshank population is isolated from the Viera population, these populations may never recover.
Studies have shown that scrub jay territories bordered by other territories have a higher probability of survival due to advanced warning of predators. Development increases mortality associated with roads.
It is not just the Florida scrub jay that will be lost but the other species of conservation concern that are associated with this ecosystem; the bobcat, the gopher tortoise, and it's over 300 commensals species including the eastern indigo snake, the Florida scrub lizard, the Florida mouse and many, many more....