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
30
%
Field Cover
15
%
Nonvascular Cover
1
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
The habitat of this plot is an ENE facing, lower ravine slope along a major tributary of Laurel Fork. Sizeable outcrops of Chemung sandstone punctuate the slope and provide foothold for several crevice inhabiting plants species. Basswood (Tilia americana) dominates the canopy in a mixed stand with sugar maple (Acer saccharum), yellow birch (Betula allegheniensis), white ash (Fraxinus americana), black birch (Betula lenta), red maple ( Acer rubrum), red oak (Quercus rubra) and black cherry (Prunus serotina). Sugar maple and beech (Fagus grandifolia) dominate the lower tree and shrub layers, while a number nutrient demanding herbaceous plants attest to richness of the richness of soils. The trees in this stand are relatively young (ca. 60 years old) and the landscape is scarred from cable logging in the 1920s. Heavy deer browse has reduced herbaceous growth to a sparse level of cover.