Saturday, May 23, 2009

Malabar Scrub Sanctuary Field Trip

In 1990, Brevard County citizens approved a referendum for funding the Environmentally Endangered Lands (EEL) Program, charged with acquiring environmentally sensitive land and making it available to the public through passive recreation and environmental education. One of the early properties acquired was the Malabar Scrub, and that's where I went for today's field trip.

My very able and knowledgeable guide was Brad Manley, the Public Use Coordinator for the EEL Program, shown here at the trailhead. It was a grey, rainy day, but just perfect for this hike - cool, and no mosquitoes, and the rain stopped as we started our walk.

This 395-acre Sanctuary houses a series of trails through diverse habitats - xeric (dry) hammock, scrub, scrubby flatwoods, pine flatwoods, sand pine scrub, ponds, sloughs, and depression marshes.

There's excellent signage as you walk along, the result of an Eagle Scout project. A boardwalk in a marshy area bore the "autograph" of the Ameri-Corp group that built it.

I took photos of some of the various plants and trees - wild blueberries, tar flower (sticky), gopher apple - but my favorite was the deer moss shown here. Brad shared a little botanist humor about it - deer moss is algae and fungus that have taken a lichen to each other. As Brad said, it's not hysterically funny, but you'll always remember what deer moss is! (Click on smaller pictures to enlarge.)

Prescribed burns play a large part in maintaining the scrub habitat favored by scrub jays - if the trees grow too tall or too dense, the jays will go elsewhere. Brad pointed out the sand pine - a small, shrubby, fast-growing tree whose seeds are contained in pine cones that are typically closed, but in a fire, the cones open and drop the seeds to the burnt ground, thus ensuring regrowth. Gotta love Mother Nature's plans.
The Malabar Scrub Sanctuary is a shining example of the EEL Program goals we mentioned at the beginning of this post - to preserve environmentally sensitive land and yet make it available to the public for education and recreation. What a jewel!


Malabar Scrub Sanctuary
Just the Facts
"BIG PICTURE" LOCATION: South Brevard, Mainland, Malabar (south of Palm Bay)
WHEN TO GO: 365 days a year. October through April, 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. May through September, 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
HOW TO GET THERE: The Sanctuary entrance is at the intersection of Malabar Road and Malabar Woods Boulevard. From Babcock and Malabar Road, head east 2.2 miles. Or, from US #1 and Malabar Road, head west 1 mile. Or, from I-95 take Exit-173 Malabar Rd SR-514 and go east on Malabar Road about 3.1 miles. Look for the Fire Department and the Malabar Community Park sign. (Google map)

When you enter the road leading to the Sanctuary trailhead, you'll park next to the Malabar Community Park, owned by the Town of Malabar. It's a dandy park, with pavilions, a playground, tennis courts, restrooms, and plenty of parking.


WHERE TO PARK: There's plenty of available parking in a common lot shared by the Malabar Community Park and the Sanctuary.
WHAT TO WEAR: This depends on the season, but take precautions in the summer against mosquitoes, wear sunscreen and a hat, and bring water. Sturdy shoes are a must.
PHYSICAL CONSTRAINTS: There are restrooms at the Malabar Community Park, near the parking lot and trailhead. The trails are sugary sand, but since this is a planned development that never happened, there is pavement that runs through it - you can't drive on it, but it provides a stable walking environment, and it would certainly accommodate a wheelchair.
HOW LONG TO STAY: Stay as long as you want, remembering that currently there is no place to sit other than fallen trees. Brad and I strolled and talked for about an hour, but we did not walk all the trails. Remember also, the Malabar Community Park has picnic tables and pavilions, so you could always have a little picnic afterwards.
WHAT TO DO: You can bicycle, hike, or ride your horse. If you like to take photos of plants, this is a great place to do that. The numerous diverse habitats offer some really beautiful vegetation. There are critters that live there, and you might see a rabbit, scrub jay, woodpecker, gopher tortoise, or sandhill crane. We saw bobcat droppings (referred to as scat), but I would think the chances of your seeing a bobcat are slim to none! The Malabar Scrub Sanctuary is listed in the State of Florida Great Birding Trail, but if your primary interest is taking bird photographs, you'd be better off going to Viera Wetlands or Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

BRING MONEY? No, this is free.
WHERE TO EAT AFTERWARDS: Head west on Malabar Road. On the southwest corner of Malabar Road and Babcock is the Shady Oaks Shopping Center. The easiest way to get into this old center is to turn south on Babcock and take the second entrance. On the side of the center facing Babcock is Loreen's Country Cafe. Loreen has three such establishments, and I've eaten at one of them for many years. Great value for the dollar, wonderful waitresses that call you honey and give you a hard time if you don't clean your plate, and good old-fasioned food (I'm partial to the chili). Loreen's decor is "God Bless America" - lots of red, white, and blue and patriotic items. There's usually a collection jar at the register for some worthy cause. I love this place. (It won't matter if you're hot and sweaty after your hike - it's not fancy.)
HOW TO HELP: If you're a Brevard County voter, support the EEL Program funding. Become a volunteer. And of course, when you're in the Sanctuary, don't litter and don't annoy the critters.
REFERENCE LINKS:
A LITTLE EXTRA: The Boundary Canal Trail extends from Port Malabar Boulvard (not to be confused with Malabar Road) near Turkey Creek and ends at the north end of the Malabar Scrub Sanctuary. I'll be doing more posts on the Trail, Cameron Preserve that adjoins the Malabar Scrub Sanctuary, and Turkey Creek. Just think - you could bike or walk for a long time without ever having to brave the Babcock Street traffic.

5 comments:

  1. Wow, That's very thorough! This is a very visitor friendly site. Good work with including the google maps too. Now you mention that it was a development that was never built, when was it supposed to be built? They don't have plans in the future to follow through with it correct? That would be a shame.

    Sincerely,
    Debris
    http://DebrisCentral.BlogSpot.com

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  2. No, it is part of the Environmentally Endangered Lands program, which means it belongs to Brevard County and can only be used for education and passive recreation. I am fairly certain that this was part of the General Development Corp fiasco that started in the early 1960s wherein GDC bought large amounts of land, put in canals for drainage, put in roads, and then sold the lots to unsuspecting northerners as "developed." Failure and court action followed, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, sounds like a sleazy thing to do, but I guess with those lemons, lemonade was made :)

    Sincerely,
    Debris
    http://DebrisCentral.BlogSpot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. How long is the trail from Malabar Road to Port Malabar Blvd.?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Anonymous - about three miles. You might be interested in the post friend Wayne did about a bike trip that included the trail from Malabar Road to Port Malabar Blvd. http://www.spacecoasteco.com/2009/05/palm-bay-and-malabar-bike-ride-field.html. Weather is finally getting nice enough to think about some of this outdoor activity!

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