Wigwam Brook Test Orchard

By Bill Adamsen

In December of 2008, John Baker, a member of long standing in both Litchfield Hills Audubon (LHA) and the American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) called to chat about a new property Litchfield Hills Audubon had recently acquired. The Wigwam Brook property in Litchfield is located along scenic Route 254 just south of the Lipekia Road intersection. The property is bounded to the west by Chestnut Hill Road, and is intersected by the beautiful Wigwam Brook whose watercourse and floodplain area connects to and protects a Class I waterway downstream. Roughly one third is grassland with two large beaver ponds and an old beaver meadow. There are 12 animal species of Greatest Conservation Need that have been identified on this property.

John wondered whether the CT Chapter of TACF might have an interest in partnering with Litchfield Hills Audubon to create a back-cross chestnut orchard on the site. Further discussions included how Farming for Biodiversity – this appealed greatly to LHA. The Wigwam Brook site is almost thirty acres and includes a variety of habitat. LHA was interested in creating some large tracts of meadow habitat with the intent of attracxting Bob White. We started an extensive process of looking at a variety of habitat for suitability in growing chestnut. LHA had contracted with botanist Bill Moorhead to help define the available resources. Bill was a terrific resource in helping understand how different areas might work for growing the chestnut. Soil samples of several locations provided additional understanding of the local conditions. The combination of attributes – well drained deep soils, large fairly square area (fencing efficiency), accessibility, and meeting the LHA goals for land use started pointing to the conifer plantation as the best choice.

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The conifer plantation is west of the brook and is comprised of primarily Charlton-Chatfield complex soils of 3% to 15% slope. Test pits showed the soil to be generally very deep with a few rocky outcrops in areas that could be avoided. The enire report can be downloaded but a brief synopsis is that the soils are a common match for eastern forests and growing chestnut.

Plans were put in place to secure funding for the orchard and also to test the site to ensure we had a clear understanding of issues associated with growing chestnut on this site. On Saturday, May 23rd, John Baker and I met to plant a test of 30 peure American chestnuts. John brought the nuts and soil mix, I brought the bluex tree tubes, bamboo stakes and clothes pins to seal the tubes. John had prepared the site in advance includig digging the holes and marking them. He then figured out the exact amount of soil mix required. Thus prepared, it took no longer than forty-five minutes to complete the planting. A summer afternoon storm provided the only missing element – water. It also gave us an oportunity to talk to Scott Jenkins about fencing options and work out some of the possible issues. The fencing plan is still very much in flux as we try to determine the best fencing for keeping both deer, and beaver out of the orchard. Anyone with ideas on that subject should send us a note.

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I'm very excited about this partnership opportunity. The Wigwam Brook site is beautiful and accessible. LHA is all one could want in a partner – smart, prepared and dedicated to having ownership in the outcome. The site itself is beautiful and has great potential to accomplish the goals LHA has set out for themselves.

This is another aerial view which shows the primary orchard location in yellow to the left in the aerial photo. Not visible in this aerial is the considerable – yet manageable slope to the site.