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
Stem Observation Area
400
m²
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Tree Height
12
m
Shrub Height
5
m
Field Height
1
m
Tree Cover
65
%
Shrub Cover
70
%
Field Cover
35
%
Nonvascular Cover
20
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Dry, stunted oak- hickory forest on attenuated part of bedrock terrace along the Potomac River in Mather Gorge. The terrace here has been eroded into an upper and lower terrace (where plot GFNP029 is located). The oak-hickory vegetation occupies the upper terrace and short slope down to the lower terrace, which is open and occupied by flood-battered scrub and prairie-like herbaceous vegetation. The habitat is periodically scoured by catastrophic floods with an average return interval of 30 to 85 years. This plot has extraordinary species-richness for an upland forest.