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
5
m
Tree Cover
85
%
Shrub Cover
60
%
Field Cover
65
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Underlying bedrock at this site appears to be Helderberg limestone. The vegetation is part of an extensive, more or less uniform stand of dry-mesic oak-hickory-sugar maple forest that covers most of the northeast flank of the Bullpasture River gorge northwest of Bryd Point. A few very large oaks (~ 80 cm DBH), with open-grown architecture, are scattered in the stand; however, most of the canopy trees are single-boled and in the 35 to 50 cm DBH range. At present there is little recruitment of the dominant oaks (Quercus alba, Q. rubra, Q. velutina, Q. muhlenbergii), and more shade-tolerant species (Acer saccharum, Carya spp., Fraxinus americana, Pinus strobus) are prevalent in the understory.
