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
35
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
1
m
Tree Cover
70
%
Shrub Cover
70
%
Field Cover
3
%
Nonvascular Cover
1
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
The steep northwest-facing slope above Snow Creek, just upstream from its confluence with the Rappahannock River, supports an old-age forest of unusual, or even unique, composition for the Coastal Plain. Rhododendron maximum, a strongly montane species in Virginia, heavily dominates the shrub layer beneath an overstory of large-diameter oaks, beech, and tulip-poplar. A number of the trees exceed 1 m DBH, and are probably quite old. While not an original-growth forest, the stand is representative of late-seral composition on mesic slopes of the dissected inner Coastal Plain. At present, there is virtually no recruitment of oaks and tulip-poplar, and future successional trajectory is towards increasing dominance by beech. The Rhododendron may be persisting in a particularly sheltered, cool habitat as a relic of wider distribution in the region during one of the cooler post-Wisconsin periods, when hemlock and northern hardwoods covered much of Virginia. A long, narrow plot configuration (10 x 40 m) was employed because of the steepness of the slope and density of the vegetation. At the foot of the short, steep, slope, are a number of seeps along the stream, which has been recently influenced by beaver dams. The old forest is poorly buffered at the top of the slope, which borders a former farm field recently developed into a residential area. Some weedy incursions are present in the forest along this edge.
