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
55
%
Field Cover
4
%
Nonvascular Cover
40
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Streamside red spruce - hemlock - yellow birch / rhododendron stand; similar to stand along Saltpeter Branch (see plot JBNF045) but larger and less disturbed by hemlock mortality. The site has mixed hydrology, with flashy flooding near the stream, saturated soils in sphagnum-filled hollows, and better drained soils on hummocks. Large areas of hemlock death nearby. Some very large Picea rubens occur here - Adams and Stephenson cored trees in 1983 that were ca. 200 years old - but the plot area has less representation of this species than some other parts of the stand. Dense Rhododendron maximum forms a tall shrub layer in most places, while young spruce regeneration is common in gaps and openings. Bryophytes (mostly Sphagnum) cover large areas in depressions and on exposed roots. Alluvial debris collected in depressions near the stream.
0-5 cm: littler / OM / roots
5-40 cm: black organic soil
40-50 cm: gray clay, sometimes with orange mottles
Soil wet nearer stream and in hollows; better drained on hummocks/upland areas, but subsoil is clay w/gleying or orange mottles.
A
5.43
%
3.8
21.9
Disturbance Data:
Disturbance Type
Disturbance Intensity
Disturbance Comment
unknown
Standing dead and windthrown hemlocks in stand; some live hemlocks with very thin foliage.
