Community goes down slope to the south ca. 100 m to a railroad cut. The community is truncated upslope to the north by US Rt 72. The community runs parallel with the slope and is hemmed in by the railroad and Rt.72 in both directions (northeast and southwest) for roughly 100m in each direction. Then the forest to the northeast becomes fragmented with patches of Platanus occidentalis / Rosa multiflora forest. Across Rt. 72, ca 200 m northwest of the plot is a similar photo signature to this plot. Older forest continues ca. 100 m west on steep slope. Forest regeneration changes to beech and maple with great laurel.;Mature mixed oak-hickory forest dominated by red, black and white oaks over a subcanopy of mockernut and shagbark hickories. The oak trees are all large in stature and are spread far apart (ca. 10-15 m). Making it difficult to get more than a couple of trees in the plot. There is one large black oak down in the plot. Most of the oaks are fire scared. No sawn stumps or noticable trails within the patch. Lots of T3 and S1 regeneration. Somewhat sparse in the S2 and H strata. Several large sandstone boulders covered with wind swept moss are exposed in the plot. Context of site is ruined by noise pollution and the smell of automobile exhaust from the adjacent road.
Representativeness
Small patch of mature oak forest. The plot location was based on a walk through of the community by Jim Vanderhorst and Brian Streets in 2000. Also subsequent aerial photo interpretation by Jim showed this to be a relatively intact stand compared to the
