Angela Tringali

Balancing the Needs of

Species in Scrub

Florida Scrub-Jay Conservation Coordinator

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Florida Scrub

is home to many endemic or rare species

Require Different Fire Return Intervals

* For Lake Wales Ridge

Require Different Fire Return Intervals

* For Lake Wales Ridge

Scrub-Jay Umbrella

* For Lake Wales Ridge

Photo by Terry Doonan

Photo by FWC

The Scrub-Jay

Umbrella

Photo by Alex Kropp

The Scrub-Jay

Umbrella

Photo by Terry Doonan

Photo by Alex Kropp

No

fair!

35

The Scrub-Jay

Umbrella

7

# o

f sp

ecie

s

Who doesn’t fit?

Sand skink

Blue-tail mole skink

Striped newt

Photo by Bill Turner

Photo by FWC

Probably yes

Euphorbia rosescens

Persea humilis

Short-tailed snake

Photo by Kevin Enge

Unknown – Not enough info

Chionanthus pigmaeus

Lechea lakelae (possibly extinct)

Generalizations

Rarity requires special management

Requires more frequent fire

Atypical scrub species

Oncidium bahamense

Ziziphus celata

Polygala lewtonii

Harrisia fragrans

Photo by Craig Faulhaber

Under the umbrellaThe Scrub-Jay Umbrella

81%(yes or

probably)

19%

FWC/FNAI Scrub

Management Guidelines

2009

Used FSJ as an umbrella

Emphasized pyrodiversity

Efforts to meet the needs of more spp

Appendices

FRLI Workshop

Photo by Craig Faulhaber

Appendices Aim To

Provide species-specific information to

managers

Identify species not under the scrub-jay

umbrella

Photos by Craig Faulhaber

Who is included?

Listed species and FNAI S1-S3

Florida rosemary (Ceratiola ericoides)

Photos by Craig Faulhaber

Rosemary vs. Oak scrub

Key differences in management

What is included?

Optimal Fire Return Interval

Response to fire & fire exclusion

Response to mechanical treatments

Under the “scrub-jay umbrella?”

Additional management recommendations

Photo by Craig Faulhaber

What is included?

But it’s not so simple…

Variation, even under the umbrella

Some species prefer more

frequent fire

BLM.gov

But it’s not so simple…

Other species have special considerations

Unburned refugia for Cladonia perforata

Appendices

So how do we strike a balance?

?

Alex Kropp

NRLI Workshop 2014

Florida Natural Resources Leadership

Institute (NRLI) practicum

Matt Corby & Craig Faulhaber

NRLI Workshop 2014

Land managers

Species experts

Scrub-jay

Scrub herps

Rare plants

Bald eagles

Black bears

NRLI Workshop 2014

Topics discussed

Identify conflicts

Identify solutions

Develop recommendations

Regional perspective

Consider the regional context for species

Each property plays a different role

Examples

State of the Scrub report

FWC’s Wildlife Conservation

Prioritization & Recovery Program

(WCPR)

Alex Kropp

Each property has its niche.

Adjust management

accordingly!

Pyrodiversity

Varying application of fire…

in space

and in time

A “bet-hedging strategy” (Menges 2007)

Photo by Cheryl Millett

Spatial variability

Creating a mosaic of habitat conditions

Type of mosaic influenced by… Species present

Regional context

vs. large-scale patchinessSmall-scale

David Bender

Complete burns can be problematic May displace scrub-jay families

Scrub-jays do poorly if the entire territory is

< 3 ft

No refugia for other species

Spatial variability

Mosaics can be among units…

…or within units

Slide courtesy of Reed Bowman, Archbold Biological Station

If burn units are relatively small,

mosaic can be among units

Cover adjacent to burn

unit

Cover within the burn

unit

If burn units are relatively large,

establish mosaic within unit

Immigration

Slide courtesy of Reed Bowman, Archbold Biological Station

Cover adjacent to burn

unit

Temporal variability Vary fire return interval

Consistent burning on low end of

scrub-jay fire return interval…

Photo by Alex Kropp

… could be good for gopher tortoises,

but bad for scrub-jays

Photo by TNC

Temporal variability Habitat structure as guideline

rather than time interval

Photo by TNC

Temporal variability means

Open areas for scrub lizards

Litter for sand skinks

Photo by FWC Bill Turner

“The scrub-jay is a leaky

umbrella…

“The scrub-jay is a leaky

umbrella…

… but we can plug

the holes.”

Challenges Variability can be difficult to achieve

Need to consider constraints

Mosaics unpredictable

Narrow burn window

Burning into black

Unburned patches can reignite

Burning on lower side of interval for safety

More fire line maintenance

Staff turnover

Evaluation on # of acres burned

Challenges Variability can be difficult to achieve

Need to consider constraints

Mosaics unpredictable

Narrow burn window

Burning into black

Unburned patches can reignite

Burning on lower side of interval for safety

More fire line maintenance

Staff turnover

Evaluation on # of acres burned

Challenges Variability can be difficult to achieve

Need to consider constraints

Mosaics unpredictable

Narrow burn window

Burning into black

Unburned patches can reignite

Burning on lower side of interval for safety

More fire line maintenance

Staff turnover

Evaluation on # of acres burned

Opportunities

Collaboration of species experts & land

managers

Create realistic recommendations

Take into account constraints

Photo by Adam Kent

Opportunities

Scrubby flatwoods / Coastal scrub

workshop in 2011

Discussed techniques for mosaics

Opportunities

Regional working groups

Southern Fire Exchange southernfireexchange.org

Other forums?

Barbara RobertsBarbara Roberts

Conclusions#

of

sp

ecie

sThe Scrub-Jay

Umbrella

Conclusions#

of

sp

ecie

sThe Scrub-Jay

Umbrella

Conclusions#

of

sp

ecie

sThe Scrub-Jay

Umbrella

Conclusions#

of

sp

ecie

sThe Scrub-Jay

Umbrella

Next steps

Revised Scrub Management Guidelines are

going out to review soon!

Would a workshop on mosaics help?

What additional resources do you need?

Any thoughts

or questions?