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
30
m
Shrub Height
5
m
Field Height
8
m
Tree Cover
95
%
Shrub Cover
30
%
Field Cover
65
%
Nonvascular Cover
75
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Plot captures a high-quality, mesic boulderfield forest on a lower slope below cliffs along Walker Creek. The substrate consists of somewhat loose, deeply piled limestone debris with some colluvial soil deposits in the interstices. The vegetation is a mixed mesophytic forest of Acer saccharum, Tilia americana var. heterophylla, Fraxinus americana, Aesculus sylvatica, Liriodendron tulipifera, Tsuga canadensis, and an occasional Thuja occidentalis. The herb layer is dominated by large colonies of Cystopteris bulbifera. Exotics are minimal, but many of the Tsuga are dead or dying from adelgid infestation, and several large Thuja were killed by fire in the past. In many places, nearly vertical limestone faces mark an abrupt upslope transition from the boulderfield to scrubbier vegetation on the massive outcrops.