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RESULTS
/ DISCUSSION
Establishment
of the Brevard Coastal Scrub Ecosystem
Conservation and Recreation Lands (CARL)
Project
To secure
protection of Brevard County’s remaining
scrub habitats and dependent rare species,
particularly
the threatened Florida Scrub-Jay, the
EEL Program developed the Brevard Coastal
Scrub Ecosystem Initiative (BCSEI) CARL
Project in 1996. This project expanded
the EEL Program’s original scrub conservation
initiative, the 9,600 acre Scrub Jay
Refugia CARL Project established in
1992, to more than 26,000 acres identified
for acquisition. The scientific foundation
of the BCSEI project was heavily based
on data collected in support of the
Brevard County Scrub Conservation and
Development Plan (SCDP), a Habitat Conservation
Plan designed, but not implemented,
to ensure long-term survival of the
Florida Scrub-Jay.[11]
- The
SCDP was guided by a Scientific Advisory
Group (SAG), composed of local and
nationally-recognized experts in scrub
ecology, scrub-jay biology, and population
biology. The process served
to identify the “core” scrub habitat
areas considered essential to maintaining
a viable population of Florida Scrub-Jays
in Brevard County. It documented the
wide-spread degradation of scrub habitat
quality due to fire suppression emphasizing
the need for implementation of immediate
habitat management actions on publicly-owned
lands. It also stressed the importance
of maintaining suitable landscape
buffers and linkages. This conservation
planning process resulted in the development
of scientifically defensible reserve
design based on general statewide
guidelines developed by Fitzpatrick
et al.[5] The reserve design comprised
10,286 acres of scrub habitat.
- The
BCSEI integrated core habitat areas
identified through the SCDP
and expanded the project to include
essential matrix habitat properties
to buffer and enhance connectivity
of focal scrub habitat patches. The
BCSEI project is presently comprised
of 26,000 acres (proposed and acquired).
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