A lone pair of rare Florida Scrub-Jays calls this area "home" but the overgrown habitat could host many more birds if restoration is successful.

Twelve Audubon Jay Watch volunteers, 18 Ridge Rangers, a volunteer corps of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, three Park rangers, and three additional volunteers felled 1,891.5 sand pines up to 12 feet tall in 3 hours' work using chain saws, pole saws, hand saws, and hand loppers.

That number, again: 1,891.5 sand pines cut. "I ran out of gas for my chainsaw while cutting the last tree," quipped Jerry Burns, one of the three volunteers there that are both Jay Watchers and Ridge Rangers.

Audubon provided a hearty lunch for the hardworking volunteers and Park staff after a morning of cutting pines in 10 acres of scrub burned within the past year and another 27 acres planned for near-future burns.

Why spend the time and effort to cut sand pines? Years of fire suppression causes sand pines to become both tall and numerous. Sand pines have seed cones that are opened by fire, producing a new generation of saplings that create dense sand pine forest patches within overgrown scrub.

Sand pines hide fast-flying Cooper's Hawks from the view of unsuspecting Scrub-Jays and pine stands also provide predator cover for small mammals and bird egg-loving snakes. Cutting the pines and leaving the downed wood to dry out before setting a prescribed fire prevents the cones from opening to release seeds.

That's why the sweat equity invested by 30 volunteers and Park rangers was vital to habitat restoration - work that, according to Park staff, would've taken them three or months to accomplish alone.

With a wave of their wings, the resident Florida Scrub-Jays say "THANK YOU" Jay Watchers, Ridge Rangers, and all who made this event possible with smiles and hard work.