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
6
m
Field Height
1
m
Tree Cover
80
%
Shrub Cover
75
%
Field Cover
0.5
%
Nonvascular Cover
10
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Plot is representative of forest vegetation on the main ridge spine of Garden Mountain in the Beartown Wilderness, consisting of dense Rhododendron (both R. maximum and R. catawbiense) with emergent red spruce to 28 m tall. Betula alleghaniensis and Sorbus americana occur as an open subcanopy beneath the slightly taller spruce. Herbs are very sparse. Soils are demonstrably shallower to bedrock than on the lower ridge to the west, where plot JWNF043 was sampled; that stand was more mesophytic, nearly lacking Rhododendron and having a well developed herb layer of ferns and forbs. The plot was sampled along a trail where the shrub cover is somewhat more open than the surrounding area. Using the trail as a staging area made it feasible to sample the extremely dense vegetation. Rhododendron were subsampled in a 10 x 10 m quadrat (25%). To the northwest, this ridge becomes narrower and rockier, and the forest vegetation gives way to nearly pure Rhododendron thickets, with a few scattered, pole-sized spruce. It is believed the differences between these areas is due to the more severe effects of fires on the shallow rocky crest to the northwest, when this area was burned over following extensive logging about 100 years ago.
