Editing Eastern Prickly Pear (section)

=== Ingham Hill Colony (Old Saybrook) ===

A single colony of ''Opuntia humifusa'' can be found on a rocky forest glade beside a powerline cut in northern Old Saybrook, Connecticut.  There is no formal parking area for the powerline cut, but it can be accessed on foot through a row of trees on the western side of Essex Road (Rt 153) in Westbrook, Connecticut.  To be clear, the ''O. humifusa'' colony is not on the powerline cut.  Rather, it is roughly 200 feet south of the powerline cut in the nearby forest.  The colony is named after a series of three, non-connected roads in the vicinity of the colony which are all peculiarly named Ingham Hill Road.

==== Background Information ====

[[File:Preserve-map-rt153-area.jpg|thumb|Detailed map of proposed development area showing location of ''O. humifusa'' colony]]The first document I discovered attesting to the existence of an ''Opuntia humifusa'' in Old Saybrook came in the form of a newspaper article published in the ''Shoreline Times'' on December 28, 2010.  The article discussed an on-going controversy over the development of a golf course and residential homes within a coastal forest of nearly 1,000 acres (the only unbroken forest of that size left along Connecticut's coast), describing a recent walkthrough of the proposed areas of development.  During the walkthrough, a "large patch of prickly pear cactus, indigenous to the area and listed as a plant of Special Concern...was found on the Westbrook site".<ref name="shorelinetimes">Gamble, Ann. "Another go-round for Preserve." ''Shoreline Times'' n.d., n. pag. Web. 27 May. 2012. <http://www.shorelinetimes.com/articles/2010/12/28/news/doc4d1a676bbefcd804749323.txt?viewmode=fullstory>.</ref>

Because the ''Shoreline Times'' article did not provide very specific location information, more research was in order.  Initially, I was only able to turn up the minutes of an Old Saybrook Planning Commission meeting (January 5, 2011) which, despite referencing the presence of ''O. humifusa'' somewhere in the planned development area, still failed to provide specific location information.<ref name="os-minutes">Town of Old Saybrook. Old Saybrook Planning Commission. ''Planning Commission Minutes 1/5/2011''. Old Saybrook: 2011. Web. <http://oldsaybrookct.virtualtownhall.net/pages/oldsaybrookct_pc/OldSaybrookCT_PCMinutes/2011/S02E0A808>.</ref>

Research for this site continued sporadically over the course of three weeks, with other documents surfacing that made mention of ''O. humifusa'' without citing a specific location.

Finally, I discovered the website of the Alliance for Sound Area Planning (ASAP), an organization dedicated to the protection of the aforementioned 1,000-acre forest.  As part of its mission to educate concerned citizens about the development project, ASAP offers a full compilation of all of the documentation related to the proposed development in Old Saybrook.  Within the site plans for the development, the location of the ''O. humifusa'' colony is marked for the purpose of ensuring that the species is responsibly addressed during the proposed construction.<ref name="asap-ct-docs">"Documents Relating To The Preserve". ''Alliance for Sound Area Planning''. Alliance for Sound Area Planning, n.d. Web. 28 May 2012. <http://asap-ct.org/documents-relating-to-the-preserve/>.</ref>  According to the map, the colony could be found about 0.5 miles west of Essex Road (Rt 153) within approximately 200 to 300 feet from a powerline cut in the forest.

==== Exploration ====

Although the ASAP-hosted map of the Old Saybrook development area does pinpoint the location of ''O. humifusa'', the map itself is somewhat difficult to interpret due to the inclusion of planned roads that do not currently exist.  Thus, an examination of satellite imagery was conducted to identify all of the rocky glades in the vicinity which could potentially serve as ''O. humifusa'' habitat.  I found approximately five (5) glades that were worth exploring.

===== May 27, 2012 =====

On May 27, 2012, I conducted a field exploration (~1.5-mile loop hike) of rocky forest in northern Old Saybrook.  The forest was accessed on foot from Essex Road (Route 153) in Westbrook, Connecticut via a powerline cut.  This exploration focused upon five (5) rocky glades within the forest, each within close range of the mapped colony of ''O. humifusa'' identified on proposed development plans for the area.

I succeeded in finding a colony of ''O. humifusa'' upon one of the five rocky glades previously identified.  Surprisingly, other rocky glades which I had identified, and which offered similar habitat, yielded no further evidence of the presence of ''O. humifusa''.

==== Status and Description ====

[[File:Ingham-hill-colony-o-humifusa.jpg|thumb|'''Ingham Hill Colony''', found on a sunny forest glade in the northern section of Old Saybrook, CT]]My field exploration in Old Saybrook revealed a single colony of ''O. humifusa'' living upon a rocky bald within a thick forest.  Named the '''Ingham Hill Colony''', it is comprised of what appears to be a single, large clonal cluster of approximately 20 to 30 square feet.

Associated herbaceous vegetation was restricted to sparse grasses and perhaps other inconspicuous low-growing plants.  As with all inland ''O. humifusa'' colonies discovered (as of May 28, 2012), ''Juniperus virginiana'' (Eastern Red Cedar) was a close associate.  The colony was essentially growing upon a rocky bald surrounded by a ring of ''J. virginiana''.

In quite a few ways, the Ingham Hill Colony is of special importance to further understanding Connecticut's fragmented population of ''O. humifusa''.  The colony can be found growing at an elevation of approximately 140 to 150 feet AMSL.  Previously, every colony I had documented was found either on coastal scrubland at an elevation between 5 and 15 feet AMSL, or upon rocky ridges at an elevation of between 330 and 550 feet AMSL.  To date, the Ingham Hill Colony is the only colony I have observed at this intermediary elevation.  This proves that my earlier deduction, that inland ''O. humifusa'' favors elevations from 350 to 550 feet AMSL, is not necessarily true.

In addition, the composition of the soil upon which the Ingham Hill Colony is growing is also quite exceptional in juxtaposition to all other previously-documented inland colonies of ''O. humifusa''.  According to the Soil Survey of the Connecticut, the Ingham Hill Colony is growing upon '''Charlton-Chatfield Complex''' (Soil Type 73) which is sub-classified as "15 to 45 percent slopes, very rocky" (Soil Type 73E).  This soil type, which is derived variously from granite, schist and gneiss, is a notable diversion from the Holyoke soils (Soil Type 78) upon which all other inland colonies of ''O. humifusa'' have been discovered, indicating that the cactus is not likely to have any particular affinity for soil derived from basalt, diabase and gabbro, as previously believed.  However, this soil type does coincide with other habitat requirements of ''O. humifusa'', being well-drained and "very strongly acid to moderately acid".

==== Concerns About Preservation ====

On one hand, the Ingham Hill Colony is guaranteed protection from potentially invasive development because its presence has been thoroughly documented during site surveys for a proposed golf course.  This means that if any future development plans should come to pass, the Ingham Hill Colony will be responsibly handled and appropriated protected.

Unfortunately, the more serious problem faced by the ''O. humifusa'' of the Ingham Hill Colony is that of forest succession.  Tall deciduous trees tightly crowd the perimeter of the rocky outcrop upon which the colony is growing.  Assuming that these trees will continue to grow taller and fuller, extending branches into the gap in the canopy, they will inevitably shade out the ''O. humifusa'', first rendering them incapable of flowering and eventually robbing them of sunlight altogether.  This chain of events, should it occur, will serve to eliminate the Ingham Hill Colony in perhaps as little as 10 years.

Judging by the plentitude of stone walls on the forest floor, it is safe to say that the entire area of the modern forest was in use as pasture land until at least the late 1800s.  The colony of ''O. humifusa'' likely appeared within a decade or two after the pasture was abandoned.  At that time, the only trees in the immediate vicinity of the colony would have been the coniferous ''Juniperus virginiana'' (Eastern Red Cedar), known to be a hardy pioneer species.  Because ''J. virginiana'' is relatively low-growing on rocky soils, these trees would have posed no serious threat to the sunlight requirements of ''O. humifusa''.  Aerial photography from 1934 shows that the area of the modern-day forest was, at that time, still a patchy scrubland which would've been quite conducive to ''O. humifusa''.  The vegetation of this scrubland habitat would've continued to thicken after the 1930s, though.  In time, probably between the late 1940s and early 1960s, taller deciduous trees began to dominate the land.  Currently, even the ring of ''J. virginiana'' surrounding the colony is being shaded out by the deciduous canopy which is nearly twice as tall and growing more dense each year.

Based upon my examination of many ''O. humifusa'' colonies in the state, and considering the decidedly shade-intolerant habit of ''O. humifusa'', it is my belief that the Ingham Hill Colony is doomed to be shaded-out within the coming decade.  To the best of my knowledge, the loss of the Ingham Hill Colony would represent the extirpation of ''O. humifusa'' in Old Saybrook.  However, the plight of the Ingham Hill Colony also provides crucial insight into the severe decline of ''O. humifusa'' throughout the state since the early 1900s.  In all likelihood, extinct colonies that were once known to live inland in towns such as Scotland and Burlington probably suffered the same fate as what seems to lie ahead of the Ingham Hill Colony.  That is, those colonies initially grew upon old, rocky fields and pastures which initially provided excellent habitat for ''O. humifusa''.  In time, as succession took place turning pasture into meadow and meadow into forest, the ''O. humifusa'' would inevitably have been shaded-out and disappeared from the landscape altogether.  For instance, tt is possible that the ''O. humifusa'' of the Ingham Hill Colony are the last remaining descendants from a colony which was once much larger and more wide-spread throughout the vicinity in past decades.

==== Colony Locations and Statistics ====

The Ingham Hill Colony is located in the northwestern section of Old Saybrook, Connecticut.  The coordinates of the colony within the forest are 41.3072° , -72.4165°.   

<ul>
<li>To view this location in Google Maps, [http://maps.google.com/?q=41.3072,%20-72.4165 click here].</li>
</li>
</ul>

Pertinent statistics concerning the location include:

<ul>
<li>'''Elevation of Colony:''' ~145 feet above sea level</li>
<li>'''Soil Type:''' Charlton-Chatfield Complex, 15 to 45 degree slopes, very rocky (Soil Type 73E)</li>
<li>'''Bedrock Geology:''' Monson Gneiss (Omo)
</ul>