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
25
%
Field Cover
10
%
Nonvascular Cover
70
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Much of the steep, rocky, upper west flank of Big Cobbler Mountain supports a mosaic of old-age chestnut oak forest and similar-age boulderfield woodlands, both of which escaped logging due to inaccessibility and the poor form of the hollow and somewhat gnarled trees. This plot represents the boulderfield type of old-age stand, which is best developed in concavities and ravine-heads where bouldery debris "streams" accumulate. The stand has an overstory of mostly leaning and bent, large-diameter chestnut oak and a younger cohort of smaller-diameter sweet birch, many of which are in the subcanopy. Overall floristic diversity is heavily constrained by the prevalent cover of large boulders (some up to car-sized) weathered from granitic outcrops upslope. A similar boulder-filled concavity a short distance to the south supported a forest of "richer" composition, with American basswood joining the oaks and birch, and large colonies of paw-paw in the shrub layer.
