To: Land Acquisition Advisory Council, POC Kirby Green
Re: Brevard County Coastal Scrub Ecosystem CARL Project
Date: December 1, 1998

Dear Gentlemen/Ladies,

We are a non-profit scientific organization researching bobcat (Lynx rufus) population viability in Brevard County. With the use of radio-telemetry, we are identifying movement corridors and population cores, and studying ecological aspects unique to fragmented landscapes. We use our findings to develop recommendations for large-scale habitat preservation and management that will insure long-term persistence.

Development is enveloping and eliminating remaining bobcat habitat (primarily upland types) in Brevard County. If key lands are not protected, this process will likely lead to the isolation of small populations and the cessation of movement between them. Remnant populations will have numbers that are far fewer than needed to insure survival and could foster local extirpation.

Thus far, we have determined that there are specific parcels of land that are in urgent need of protection if viability is to be secured. These lands are in the CARL Coastal Scrub Ecosystem Project. They include the TICO scrub core and those found in sections 27 and 28 (T23S, R35E) south of Port St. John. Telemetry from several bobcats that use these lands has indicated that the loss of these lands could foster extirpation. These lands function as the termini of a vital corridor between north and central Brevard, that wraps around the west side of Port St. John, as indicated in Figure 2 of the attached assessment. Both parcels are also part of larger habitat blocks that provide population core areas for residents – the Titusville and Cocoa cores. (See attached assessment for details)

We strongly recommend that these parcels be preserved and purchased with CARL funding. Doing so will significantly help establish large-scale conservation continuity with existing public lands such as the St. Johns National Wildlife Refuge and Brevard County’s Fay Lake Wilderness Park. This can ultimately result in the preservation of rather large continuous blocks of habitat that are on the scale required for maintaining bobcat viability.

Sincerely, 

Timothy John Mallow
Director