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
27
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
5
m
Tree Cover
60
%
Shrub Cover
5
%
Field Cover
0.5
%
Nonvascular Cover
15
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Directions to plot and tree tag:
From Whetstone Ridge restaurant/maintenance shop, drive south on BRP ca. 0.9mile. Park on right shoulder near middle of bend in road. Cross fence and proceed across field to tree line. Point located on upper WNW-facing slope above gentle ravine, ca. 125m from BRP and ca. 65m from edge of forest. Tagged tree is a Quercus rubra of 52 cm dbh with tag #158. Conduit is at a bearing of 305 degrees and 5.5 m from tree.
Plot location was pre-selected by the project's stratified random sampling design.
Bouldery colluvial slope with scattered large (>40cm dbh) Quercus rubra and Quercus prinus, with formerly substantial understory component of Tsuga. Herb layer is exceptionally depauperate and sparse, due to deep litter and duff (>= 3cm) and heavy shade from Tsuga. Oak regeneration was altogether absent from the plot. Coarse woody debris consists primarily of downed limbs and boles from dead or dying Tsuga. Soil shallow and dense in pebbly colluvial material. O horizon abounds in fine roots. Even though area is mapped as Leucocratic Granulite and Gneiss, rocks look like charnockite
0-3 cm deep litter/duff
O horizon abounds in fine roots
Soil shallow and dense in pebbly colluvial material; silt loam
Disturbance Data:
Disturbance Type
Disturbance Intensity
Disturbance Comment
unknown
Hemlock cover estimated to have succeed 50% before infestation by hemlock wooly adelgid. Contemporary cover difficult to estimate or assign to strata because of low light intensity in understory and abundance of dead branches. Most foliage present on lower branches of taller individuals. One irregularly shaped gap (ca. 50 square meters) in far end of plot. At least one Q. montana snag present.
