releve Virginia Division of Natural Heritage, see http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/documents/nh_plotform_instructions.pdf
Overall Taxon Cover Values are Automatically Calculated?
no
Stem Observation Area
400
m²
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Tree Height
28
m
Shrub Height
4
m
Field Height
5
m
Tree Cover
90
%
Shrub Cover
50
%
Field Cover
4
%
Nonvascular Cover
0.5
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
This plot captures a Piedmont forest of eastern hemlock and mixed hardwoods growing on a short, steep, north-facing bluff subtended by the North Meherrin River, just downstream from its confluence with Juniper Creek. A long, narrow plot configuration (13.33 x 30 m) was employed because of the extreme steepness and inaccessibility of the lower half of the bluff. The sample area runs along a brow whose slope is moderately steep and convex, becoming sharply steeper for the last few meters downslope. The trees in this steepest part are older than in the upslope part of the plot, where all the trees (hardwood and hemlock) have grown up following a timber harvest about 40 years ago. Increment coring of a loblolly pine (27.4 cm DBH) just upslope from the plot confirms that it was planted in 1966 (T. Dierauf, pers. comm.). A 24.1 cm DBH hemlock in the upslope part of the plot was a few years older.
