Adjacent to the plot to the NW is a small open Umbilicaria, Cladonia, Paranichia argyracoma linear clifftop (MONF.365) which drops sharply ca. 30m, below that is a Red Oak forest of some kind. Below the plot to the SE is the North Fork Mtn. Trail. There the community is a Chestnut Oak / Mt. Laurel / Hairgrass forest (see MONF.363). The N Fork Mtn. Trail runs N along this mtn. roughly 18 miles from US Rt. 33 to Chimney Top with many beautiful vistas between. Most of the trail runs through MONF, however there are pockets of private land, some of which the TNC has easments on (High Knob). For the most part, the East flank of the mtn. is USFS, the West private. There are many fruiting Castanea trees along the main trail.;Beautiful stand of Pitch Pine growing along a SE facing dry ridgeline. The woodland is relatively open with many of the trees appearing even aged. In the sunnier openings Scrub Oak and Huckleberry dominate the S1 & S2 layers. There is no Pine regeneration to speak of within the plot. The forest floor is densely covered w/ Vaccinium pallidum in the shadier areas under the pines. There is obvious signs of deer browse on the S1 shrubs as well as an abundance of trails and scat. Several Pinus rigida trees in plot were cored.
Representativeness
Linear patch of a clifftop woodland community dominated by Pinus rigida and Quercus ilicifolia. The plot was placed to sample c.t. which repeats in similar positions along the cliffs of North Fork. It is quite similar to a stand just N of where Landis T
