Editing Eastern Prickly Pear (section)

===== April 28, 2012 =====

I conducted a field exploration of the southern half of West Rock Ridge State Park on April 28, 2012, during which I carefully investigated all of the target areas in that region that were identified in my preliminary studies of satellite imagery.  This entailed a hike of approximately 3.08 miles and the route variously included hiking on foot trails and along the park road.  Extensive bush-whacking was required in order to explore all of the target locations, many of which were between 20 and 100 feet off of the road or established trails.

Target areas of exploration primarily included west-facing and south-facing ledges along the precipices of the southern half of West Rock Ridge.  Most of these areas were devoid of trees or, at least, very sparsely forested.  A thorough investigation of these target areas revealed no presence of ''Opuntia humifusa''.

However, I did succeed in locating a healthy colony of cacti in an area which was not within my original list of target areas.  The colony was located on a relatively small clearing within the forest towards the interior of the ridge.  This clearing consisted of an isolated, slightly elevated dome of exposed bedrock which enjoyed full sunlight and supported a bare minimum of herbaceous plants.  The colony included one large clonal cluster of cacti as well as a number of individual cacti along the outer perimeter of the clearing which were at various stages of maturation.