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
34
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
5
m
Tree Cover
95
%
Shrub Cover
20
%
Field Cover
60
%
Nonvascular Cover
1
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Plot is situated on a narrow, elevated terrace along Crab Creek, a second-order stream draining an area of low sandstone ridges in the Ridge and Valley region of Bland County. It is doubtful that this site experiences overland flooding, except perhaps on very rare occasions. The forest vegetation is essentially an upland type, containing a diverse canopy of mesophytic trees over a fern-dominated herb layer. Downstream, beavers have impounded the stream channel and flooded most of the bottom, killling the trees. Upstream, the bottom narrows and becomes more choked with dense thickets of Rhododendron maximum.