After finally completing most of the geospatial analysis on the chestnut “hotspot” project, several maps were passed out late last week to the CT-ACF members. I eventually figured out how to complete the topographic relative moisture index which, as I said before, combines relative slope position, slope configuration, slope steepness, and slope aspect into a single value ranging from 0 to 60. Lower numbers indicate more xeric sites while higher numbers indicate more mesic sites. For the purpose of this analysis, I reclassified the optimal moisture index as “40″ based on our knowledge of chestnut ecology. From there, I decreased the optimal ranking from 40 to 60 and 40 to 0. The final map now includes hotspot analysis based on soil and a TRMI.
Map of Litchfield County with incremental radii spreading out from the Town of Litchfield
Detailed view of Town of Litchfield Area with hotpots and ALL compatible soils.
Hopefully these maps came in handy this past weekend as Licthfield Audubon members flocked across the county for the June bird count. The goal is to help narrow the attention of chestnut hunters in certain areas as well as provide motivation for getting out there. I have also been using and continuing to validate the map. After my journey to Kent/Warren/Skiff Mountain Road, I adventured far in the opposite direction to explore possibilities around the Barkhamsted Reservoir. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of side streets on the main road (rt. 219/179 which heads toward Bradley International). But my trusty hotspot map was telling me this was optimal habitat, so I veered off onto one of the only sidestreets and went exploring anyway. I ended up searching an area slightly off the map, but I found several sprouts and one reproductive plant with clumps of male catkins. The tree is on private property just off Ratlum Mountain Road, but I believe the owners are really supportive of the Chestnut Foundation’s pollination program and are going to participate as best they can.
Tree with catkins in a private community on Robin Road off of Wright/Ratlum Mountain Rd.
Later that week, Woods Sinclair and I traveled to the very northwestern corner of the county (and state!) to search the property owned by Mount Riga Association. Traveling up Mt. Riga Rd, we came across several sprouts, but none that looked promising for the pollination program. We eventually ran into the manger of the Association’s property and he gave us a few insider clues on the best places to look. Therefore, a subsequent trip took us beyond Mt. Riga Rd and onto Mount Washington Road where we came across huge densities of sprouts. Several of these trees were very large (6-8 in dbh, about 30 feet tall) and very impressive– especially when we’ve been accustomed to the “shrubby” chestnut sprouts. Once we hit the open area around Bingham Pond, larger sprouts started to show catkins. Apparently having FULL light makes all the difference. Woods and I found four good trees with catkins, one of which had burrs and nuts on the ground from last year! We’re hoping to get permission to access these trees for our program.
Tree off Mount Washington Road with large clumps of male catkins
Close-up of the same tree, showing the catkins.
Hopefully these maps are useful to members as they fan out across the county for the last leg of chestnut hunting. It’s just about crunch time and the pollination process will be upon us shortly.
In the meantime, here’s a few fun pictures from my Connecticut adventure so far… 
I love how Black Birch trees can have leaves growing right out of the trunk. It's so pretty.
My first porcupine sighting! He was way up in a tree! (I didn't even know they could climb trees).
One of many 360 views from Haystack Mountain Tower. This tower, built in 1929, is a large stone tower that sits atop Haystack Mountain and provides excellent views of the Connecticut countryside.
Another view from the Tower
Another porcupine friend off Canaan Mountain Road. He didn't even budge when I drove by, just kept munching away.
Where is Haystack and where did you access the summit road/trail?
Haystack Mountain State Park in Norfolk, just north of the town center on 272–there’s a road that leads to a trail head.
I did a double take on that acronym TRMI since I didn’t know what it meant – and it didn’t appear you’d previously defined it in the copy. For those (like me) ignorant of such terms … this is the description by one of the ESRI proceedings.
Topographic Relative Moisture Index (TRMI) grid. The TRMI is a summed scalar index of four landscape elements derived from the DEM. These elements are relative slope position, slope angle, slope shape and slope aspect. The TRMIM tool developed for this project was a modified version of work done by Parker (1982) who conceived the idea of a TRMI, and Haplin (1999) who created an ArcView tutorial for the TRMI.
The TRMI grid generated by the TRMIM.AML is a grid of potential relative moisture. Index values range from 1 to 28 (drier to wetter) and are relative in the sense that pixels have the potential to be either wetter or drier relative to surrounding pixels based on slope angle, slope shape, aspect, landscape position.
http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc02/pap0331/p0331.htm
Thanks for the note on Haystack … a new discovery for me!
Thanks for clearing things up! I also describe it a little in the “Needle in a Haystack” post. Also note that my scale actually went from 0 to 60.
I wondered about that scale. Is there a standard? Not thinking about it too hard I’d wondered if perhaps it had something to do with “inches of rain” per year … though 28 inches would be too high for the southwest. Rather than me guessing, can you explain?
I believe it’s just an index that attempts to quantify the range of mesic (60) to xeric (0) areas based on relative slope position, slope configuration, slope steepness, and slope aspect. The number corresponds to the combination of these variables in determining moisture, not precipitation.