Gottfried Green

We knew going into this a year ago we were in the red zone. This is how a scrub jay zone is mapped on the county's GIS system. We had an environmental assessment done prior to purchasing the property to make sure we could build on the lot. Regardless, I still have to submit a Scrub-Jay Review Package to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. I think this is good thing and was prepared for some federal reviews because the property mostly remains as it always has. The initial assessment found no evidence of scrub jays which isn't great news on any level. Also, where we are building on the lot is not near the zoned scrub habitat. We plan on only removing a few palm trees of which there is an over abundance anyway. If there are scrub jays that want to visit our property, there will still be scrub for them to enjoy.

Eco Florida Magazine provides this information about the Florida Scrub Jay. "As the name implies, the Florida scrub jay thrives in a scrub, which is an extremely dry habitat. Their ideal environment is a relatively open flatwoods of oak or sand pine scrub with trees less than 10 feet tall, wide apart and providing minimal canopy cover. Most of this scrub is bare ground having a few plants that are less than half a foot tall."

Labels: permits, wildlife