Kates Branch lies just north of the interstate which was rerouted to avoid this wetland complex surrounded by hemlock and white pine forests. There are old fields in various stages of succession mixed with these even-aged pine stands. Shrublands skirt the herbaceous wetland center which occurs in the wettest or early successional positions. Herbaeceous dominance is also variable depending on hydrology and patch dominance.;Shrub/herbaceous vegetation at downstream end of a large beaver influenced wetland complex. Beaver workings have created a network of terraces and pools with shrub and herb communities representing various hydrological regimes and stages of succession. Plot is part terrace with Hypericum and part pool with emergent Scirpus and Juncus. Old beaver lodge is in plot.
Representativeness
ELU 2233 (slope bottom on sandstone plateau). Small patch, zonal, herbaceous wetland. Plot covers two levels - a terrace with Hypericum densiflorum and a pool with emergent Juncus effusus and Scirpus expansus.
