Protecting Florida's Scrub Jays
through Stakeholder Coordination
For many years, Florida scrub jays populations were declining
at alarming rates as a result of development of upland scrub habitat
throughout Florida. Concerns over the declining status of this species
prompted the listing of the Florida scrub jay as a "Threatened" species
by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on 3 June 1987.
Following the listing by USFWS, populations have remained in jeopardy
and the Florida scrub jay remains a threatened species despite habitat
management and conservation efforts by ecologists, wildlife biologists,
land managers, etc. throughout the State. On 22 February 2007, Mosaic
Fertilizer, LLC (the largest phosphate mining company in the U.S) took
the lead and hosted the First Annual Joint Meeting of the Florida Scrub
Jay M-4 Metapopulation Team. The meeting was coordinated in an effort to
gather the all stakeholders interested in furthering the protection of
scrub jays in the region. During the meeting, Mosaic presented the
results of six years of data from its Experimental Florida Scrub Jay
Translocation Project, designed to move isolated jays on the verge of
extinction to habitat located within the center of the metapopulation,
review habitat enhancement/management efforts conducted by Mosaic and
other key stakeholders in the region, review the current population
census of jays in the metapopulation and discuss future protection
measures and/or options available to promote the survival of the M-4
Metapopulation.
- Next>