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
30
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
5
m
Tree Cover
80
%
Shrub Cover
40
%
Field Cover
35
%
Nonvascular Cover
2
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
A submesophytic, mixed oak forest in a saddle of the Iron Mountains between Little Mountain and Canadays Ridge. The site is a gentle northwest slope (elev. 3450 ft) with a history of logging (decades ago) and chestnut blight. Quercus rubra is the leading canopy dominant, but Q. montana, Q. alba, and Liriodendron tulipfiera are also present. Acer rubrum, Magnolia fraseri, and Acer pensylvanicum are common in the understory. Low clones of Vaccinium erythrocarpum and patches of Galax urceolata are prevalent in the herb layer. This forest is typical of middle-elevation sites with intermediate soil moisture throught the Virginia Southern Blue Ridge.