Florida State Parks protect critical landscapes and historic sites, earning gold medals in recognition of the unparalleled experience they provide to locals and visitors alike. Equally important, parks are home to a range of iconic Florida species, including the endemic scrub-jay.

Staff at Florida State Parks have been hard at work restoring overgrown scrub to the structure that Florida Scrub-Jays prefer: short scrub oaks with space between them and plenty of bare sand patches in which to cache acorns. At Lake June-in-Winter Scrub Preserve State Park in Highlands County, park staff began cutting down trees taller than 15 feet in 2013, and by 2019, they had effectively reduced the tree density to the recommended two-peracre for scrub habitat.

From 2013-2016, prescribed fire burned over 300 acres. Now that the previously burned acreage has recovered to “optimal” condition for jays, two more sections of the park are scheduled for burning. These habitat management efforts have paid off: in the past three years, more than 55 juvenile scrub-jays have taken flight from family groups in this small but important park.

At Volusia County’s Blue Spring State Park, staff harvested 110 acres of overgrown scrub habitat for sand pine in 2013, roller-chopped it in 2017, and then burned the land in 2018. Additionally, park staff mowed 23 acres of dense edge habitat to eliminate predator perches, which functionally increased the amount of restored scrub habitat available for jays.

Finally, the District biologist banded more than 25 birds, which has further helped tracking and monitoring individual birds and scrub-jay group composition. Thanks to partners like Florida State Parks, who routinely commit to multi-year action plans, efforts to protect and grow Florida Scrub-Jays are showing terrific results.