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
25
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
25
m
Tree Cover
95
%
Shrub Cover
30
%
Field Cover
10
%
Nonvascular Cover
2
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Directions to plot and tree tag:
N gate to Rock Castle gorge fire road. Take rocky knob trail along Little Rock Castle Creek. When trail climbs up ravine - at 2nd ravine/creek crossing see bench and green blazed tree. Witness tree is flagged and 250o upslope ~50-80m. Tagged tree is a Quercus prinus of 60 cm dbh with tag #497. Conduit is at a bearing of 320 degrees and 5 m from tree.
Plot location was pre-selected by the project's stratified random sampling design.
Steep, rocky slope of ravine with unstable, eroding soils. Relatively young tulip poplar stand with sugar maple mostly in understory. Chestnut oak is coming into the canopy from the above rocky ridge, which has more Kalmia and dead Tsuga carolina. Scattered Fraxinus, Carya, Tilia - much like all the cut over slopes in the gorge. Sparse herb layer and virtually no short shrub layer. Many snags and fallen trees from above slopes.