releve Virginia Division of Natural Heritage, see http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/documents/nh_plotform_instructions.pdf
Overall Taxon Cover Values are Automatically Calculated?
no
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Tree Height
38
m
Shrub Height
2
m
Field Height
2
m
Tree Cover
95
%
Shrub Cover
55
%
Field Cover
8
%
Nonvascular Cover
1
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Directions to plot and tree tag:
Rock Castle Gorge fire road to 4th footbridge* - just east of private inholding. Don’t cross footbridge but follow S-side of creek - East ~0.2mi. - follow large floodplain at toe of slope, then E and SE to plot. Plot is on a flat bench at toe of slope. Witness tree is flagged, conduit has flag.
* 1st footbridge is not on fire road but visible from the road. It is a short way down the N. loop of Rocky Knob trail. Tagged tree is a Acer saccharum var saccharum of 41 cm dbh with tag #166. Conduit is at a bearing of 58 degrees and 5.5 m from tree.
Plot location was pre-selected by the project's stratified random sampling design.
Bench at toe of slope - very rocky substrate. Dark shalely rocks cover plot surface. Mostly Liriodendron with some Juglans. Acer saccharum var. saccharum dominant in subcanopy. Shrub layer overwhelmingly Lindera benzoin. Similar forest covers this slope. Herb diversity is lower perhaps due to dominance of Lindera (roots) and rocky soil.