The ridge above the plot is a successional TSCA forest. Below the plot ca. 400 m is the Gauley River. On the ridge above there is also a small meadow. See plot GARI.94 for more context.;Steep W facing slope just below the inner rim of the Gauley gorge. The plot has 2 exposed sandstone cliff shelves in it. One at the top of the plot, the second is in the middle. Each rock face is roughly 5 m tall. The overstory is dominated by Hemlock and Chestnut Oak with a scattered S2 layer of mostly Great Laurel. Fairly large cover of Leucobryum glaucum growing at the tops of the Cliff breaks. Some charcoal stumps at base of rocks.
Representativeness
Small patch of a Chestnut Oak-Hemlock/ Rhododendron maximum forest. Plot was placed to sample ELU 1111.