Large tract of forested land with relatively few roads. Land is owned and managed by the George Washington National Forest. Dyers knob of Shenandoah Mountain is located ca. 1.4 air km NE of the plot. Plot is located on a NE slope above a W flowing cove off of the W flank of Shenandoah Mountain. There is a trail located 150 m SW of the plot. Forest Service Rd 85 is located 500 m W. The community type along the trail is oak - pine / heath recently burned w/ lots of Pieris floribunda coming up. Between the trail and the plot is a thin patch of a dying hemlock forest.;Cool, shady forest with tall well spaced Acer saccharum and Tilia americana trees. The shrub layer is very sparse. The forest floor is covered by a dense herbaceous layer, mostly Laportea canadensis. The forest substrate consist of a thick layer of liiter/duff over angular bowling ball sized chunks of colluvial sandstone. Plot was placed on the NE facing cove slope above a N-NW facing cove on the W flank of the mountain. This should be one of the coolest and mesic areas on the mountain. Ph is 6.5 likely due to the large sugar maple in the plot.
Representativeness
Large patch of mesic forest on cool NE aspect. Community is a typical sugar maple - basswood / stinging wood nettle cove forest, a common type in WV. However we have few exaples of this type sampled in this region of the state. Similar to plots sampled on
