Upstream is another seepy patch with Osmunda, other patches are dense hemlock, resembling the hemlock floodplain forest (Shavers Fork etc.);Seepy bottom along a small stream which runs behind a small ridge parallel to the river gorge. Area has been logged and stream bottom was probably used as road bed, but not recently. Vegetation is a forest dominated by tall ash and tulip trees over short hemlocks. Low herb diversity due to heavy shade of hemlocks, but a few wetland indicators occur in gaps. Exposed sand along stream about 2 m wide. Some herbs may be suppressed by recent floods.
Representativeness
Plot was placed to sample ELU 2133 (wet flat), the rarest in the Gauley NRA. Long plot kept in bottom of small stream floodplain. Seepy bottom continues upstream several hundred yards at least.