SEBASTIAN — Holiday decorating enthusiasts looking for a unique Christmas tree hoping to save more than money have a couple Saturdays left to snag a sand or slash pine chopped down on a Sebastian resident’s conservation property. The pines are getting the axe to help a family of scrub jays.
Two adults and two juvenile scrub jays are calling a 10.6-acre piece of land on Barber Street home, but it’s not the typical home the protected birds need in order to thrive.
“It’s a miracle these scrub jays have survived,” conservationist Jane Schnee said of the scrub jay family living on her property.
The property, located east of Bristol Street on Barber Street, is overcrowded with pine trees, which provide no benefit at all to the scrub jays.
“There’s nothing on them they can eat,” Schnee said of the pines, adding that the pines crowd out the scrub oaks, which the scrub jays rely on for food.
She said the pines also serve as prime places for hawks and other birds of prey to stalk the scrub jays.
“It’s an environmental necessity,” Schnee said of removing the pines.
To that end, Schnee and volunteers from the Pelican Island Audubon Society have been cutting down the pines and offering them as Christmas trees. Thanksgiving weekend, they handed out approximately 40 trees.
Though the trees are free, Schnee said a $20 donation would get “buyers” a year’s membership to the Pelican Island Audubon Society.
“It went really well,” Schnee said of that Friday and Saturday. They’re planning to be out at the property again this Saturday and the following one to clear out even more pines from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Schnee estimates there are about 600 pines on the 10-acre property.
Back before residential development sprung up around the site, nature killed off many of the pines with lightning strikes, according to Schnee. But now that there are so many homes so close to the property, brushfires aren’t allowed to go unchecked, leaving the pines to keep growing and multiplying.
Schnee is seeking volunteers who can help drag the fallen pines to people’s cars and help secure them for transport. Other volunteers are needed to help continue clear trash and debris from the property, which accumulated over time as an illegal dumping site.
“I’ll give them something to do,” Schnee said of volunteers.
Though the property is privately owned by Schnee, she wants to make the property accessible by the public and is willing to give guided walks through the property.
Anyone interested in volunteering, finding out more about getting a native Christmas tree or to schedule a walking tour can call Jane Schnee at (772) 589-3201.
