This community type, or a variety of it, are found on all south facing mid slopes surveyed in the gorge. Here it seems to go as far as I can see up and down hill.;Steep slope above an even steeper break. Large portions of exposed orange soil and platy soil fragments. The soil was rather deep (45 cm). Large amounts of windthrow and tip mounds were observed. The shrub layer looks to have been browsed heavily by deer including Viburnum rafinesquianum ( a state rare species).
Representativeness
Matrix acidic oak - hickory forest on a southern slope. The dominant oak is Quercus prinus and hickory Carya alba. Acer saccharum and Fraxinus americana are also found in large amounts in most strata. Diverse but sparse herb cover.