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
800
m²
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Tree Height
32
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
5
m
Tree Cover
80
%
Shrub Cover
30
%
Field Cover
10
%
Nonvascular Cover
30
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
This plot is located close to JNNF017 but on the NW flank of Bald Mountain rather than the SE flank. It documents an upper-slope montane oak forest covering about 140 acres and reported by Bill Moorhead to be an exemplary old-growth stand. Dominant chestnut and red oaks here are very impressive and range up to ca. 35 m tall and 120 cm DBH (95 cm in the plot sample). There is no evidence of any logging (coppice-sprouted trees, stumps) and large chestnut boles lay where they fell after succumbing to the blight. Due to the size of the trees, an 800 square meter quadrat was sampled to capture representative composition. There are large, lichen- and bryophyte-covered boulders in the upslope part of the plot, and much of the exposed soil surface is covered by gravel/cobble-sized red sandstone fragments. There is little oak recruitment in sub-canopy layers, where Betula lenta dominates. One of the few red oaks in the subcanopy (18 m tall, 46 cm DBH, recruited into a gap) was cored and had approximately 94 growth rings (origin ca. 1915). Acer pensylvanicum and Hamamelis virginiana are common shrubs. Herbs are quite sparse. Umbilicaria mammulata is the most conspicuous lichen on boulders. Altogether, this is one of the most impressive old-age forests in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.
