Florida Scrub-Jay Festival
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Jonathan Dickinson State Park
The 4th annual Florida Scrub-Jay Festival will be held for the first time in southeast Florida on Saturday, March 2, 2013 at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County. This state park has the largest amount of protected scrub-jay habitat in southeastern Florida.
The Florida Scrub-Jay Festival celebrates the only bird species unique to Florida as well as the scrub-jay’s unique and interesting habitat. The Florida scrub-jay currently is federally listed as a threatened species. Scrub-jays are bold, curious, charismatic and true Florida natives.
Scrub-jay populations are thought to have declined by as much as 90 percent since the late 1800s due to habitat loss from development and agriculture. More recently, scrub-jays have continued to decline even on protected lands due to inadequate habitat management. Historically, periodic wildfires maintained the shrubby, open habitat that scrub-jays need to survive. Now scrub-jays and other plants and animals rely on agencies like the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to use prescribed fire and other methods to maintain the shrubby habitat they need.
The 2013 Florida Scrub-Jay Festival is free and will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The festival will include guided walks, hay rides, kids’ activities, entertainment, presentations and a Scrub-Jay Q&A with a panel of experts.
For more information about the festival. 
The Florida Scrub-Jay Festival moves around the state from year to year. The 2014 festival will be at Lyonia Environmental Center in Volusia County. The Florida Scrub-Jay Festival is a collaborative effort of multiple conservation partners, including the FWC.
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