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 Cover
70
%
Shrub Cover
30
%
Field Cover
90
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
This plot documents a young, even-aged stand of black birch (Betula lenta), which followed clearcutting in the 1920s. The herbaceous layer here is dominated by vast colonies of the northern clubmosses Lycopodium annotinum and L. obscurum var. dendroideum, indicative of nutrient poor soils and probably the past influence of logging related fires. Such communities are common on NW facing slopes of the Allegheny Mountain east flank. Usually hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and/or red spruce (Picea rubens) are abundant under the birch canopy, but neither is present in the plot area. Frasier magnolia (Magnolia fraseri), one of the southern Appalachian endemics to occur in the Laurel Fork area, is an interesting component of the lower tree stratum. Measured trees in plot (dbh in cm.): Acer rubrum (57,47), Betula lenta (24,23,22), Magnolia fraseri (36,30), Robinia pseudoacacia (34).