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
Located on a lower, SSW facing ravine slope along Slabcamp Run, this forest stand contains most of the important canopy trees characterized extensive northern hardwood communities of the Allegheny Mountain/Laurel Fork area. The mixed canopy here contains beech (Fagus grandifolia), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), black birch (Betula lenta), cucumber tree (Magnolia acuminata) and red maple (Acer rubrum) along with a little yellow birch (Betula allegheniensis), black cherry (Prunus serotina), ad red spruce (Picea rubens). Many of the trees are larger than average for the area and hemlock and beech prevail in the understory. The compositions suggests an ear climax forest in which beech, hemlock and sugar maple, the most tolerant trees in the region, progressively dominate. However, the onslaught of beech bark disease (beech scale Nectria complex) in the area, as well as the presence of hemlock wooly adelgid, make it doubtful that this association can maintain itself in the future.
Trees measured in plot (dbh in cm.): Fagus grandifolia (48,45), Tsuga canadensis (50), Betula lenta (51), Magnolia acuminata (46), Acer saccharum (35).