The Important Bird Areas of Florida - National Audubon Society

The Important Bird Areas of Florida: 2000–2002 – Pranty – 2-Jul-02 128hammock, which has forced the jays to move into non-scrub uplands such as gallberry thickets andsaw palmetto flats. • The long-term persistence of Florida Scrub-Jays at Al-Bar Ranch is a goal ofPinellas County Utilities, which owns the property. Pinellas County Utilities is working withAudubon of Florida on a large-scale habitat restoration project, which is restoring nearly 400 acres(160 ha) of young hammocks back into oak scrub habitats. Prescribed burning of scrub habitats nowis part of the overall land management plan. Al-Bar Ranch may be able to support 12–15 scrub-jaygroups after habitat restoration is complete, but this number falls short of the 30 groups that areconsidered a viable population. At least 20 other scrub-jay groups occur on the private ranches, wheretheir habitats are not being managed properly. • Central Pasco County is under intense developmentpressure from urban sprawl to the west and south. Nearly half of this IBA (in two separate parcels) ispublicly owned, but four large ranches and a few smaller tracts, which total over 27,000 acres (10,800ha), remain unprotected. The private lands are part of the Pasco One SOR Project of the SouthwestFlorida Water Management District, but no acreage has yet been acquired. If acquired in its entirety,the Pasco One SOR Project would link Cross Bar Wellfield with Cypress Creek Wellfield, and wouldcreate a 75-square-mile (192-square km) conservation area in the center of Pasco County. Loss of theranches to development will destroy this link, and will isolate both wellfields by surrounding themwith thousands of houses. The southernmost ranch in the IBA, which comprises 8000 acres (3200 ha),was permitted by the Pasco County Commission in July 2000 for transformation into a 27-yearplanned development containing over 30,000 houses and 4 million square feet (360,000 squaremeters) of office space. (However, the water management district continues to negotiate for purchaseof at least some of this ranch). In 2001, owners of a second ranch within the IBA applied for adevelopment permit. • From a combination of excessive drainage, long-term drought, a reduction inwater recharge areas due to extensive regional development, and from wellfield pumping, many ofthe wetlands in the northern part of the IBA (i.e., north of State Road 52) are dry most months of theyear. Pinellas County Utilities has augmented eight wetlands with water pumped from the wellfield,and will augment several additional wetlands in 2002. This restoration has been quite successful atreturning wetland plants and animals back onto the site, but requires continual pumping in order toachieve success. In an attempt to limit further damage to local wetlands, the wellfield has reduced itspumping capacity by several millions of gallons (>10 million liters) of water per day. • On at leastone of the private ranches, sludge is regularly deposited on pastures and palmetto “prairies,”including some used by Florida Scrub-Jays for foraging. Potential negative effects–if any–of birdsforaging near deposited sludge deserves study [anything already known?].The four primary ranches that compose the Pasco One SOR Project are critical for assuring the longtermpersistence of the region's population of Florida Scrub-Jays. Public acquisition efforts must begiven top priority by the Southwest Florida Water Management District and possibly other agenciessuch as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. • Efforts to link this IBA directly with the StarkeyWilderness IBA to the west should be undertaken.NOMINATED BY: Bill Pranty (Audubon of Florida)REFERENCES: +Cox, J., R. Kautz, M. McLaughlin, and T. Gilbert. 1994. Closing the Gaps in Florida'sWildlife Habitat Conservation System. Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. Tallahassee,FL. • +Peacock and Associates, Inc. 1999. Pinellas County Utilities wildlife management report forCross Bar and Al Bar ranches. Peacock and Associates, Inc. Palm Harbor, FL.