Open valley bottom with open shrub/herb wetland mosaic. Uplands logged in early 1900's. Now mostly second growth northern hardwoods. Canaan Valley is famed for the relic spruce forests that reportedly dominated the valley floor. This may be a relict patch.;Undulating topography at the bottom of a slope, on the edge of a large open wetland. Woodland community is dominated by spruce with some Abies snags. Blueberries grow in clumps on the large hummocks at the tree bases. Low areas of plot have Sphagnum, Carex trisperma, and other hydrophytes. Large sawn stump in plot. Abies snags seem to have been dead for quite a while. Woodland physiognomy in part due to Abies die-off.
Representativeness
Wetland edge of a larger valley bottom spruce patch (but still small). Wetland community wraps around a peninsula like protrusion into a shrub/herb wetland. It shows as a conifer signature on the aerial photo. The community is about the width of the plot.