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
90
%
Shrub Cover
15
%
Field Cover
15
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
The vegetation in this plot is representative of average, second growth mixed hardwood forests which occupy many slopes of the Alleghany Mountain/Laurel Fork area. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and black cherry (Prunus serotina) are the most common canopy trees in a mixed stand with red maple (Acer rubrum), beech (Fagus grandifolia), white ash (Fraxinus americana), red oak and a little basswood (Tilia americana). The forest is relatively young and the landscape is scarred from cable logging operations in the 1920s. Deer browse is severe, maintaining a scarcity of herbaceous cover. The most likely climax forest on this south facing lower slope is one in which sugar maple and beech are dominant. However, a devastating outbreak of beech bark disease (beech scale Nectria complex) throughout this area has put the future role of beech in jeopardy.
Trees measured in plot (dbh in cm): Prunus serotina (37), Acer rubrum (37), Acer saccharum (42).