An evaluation of existing vegetation data and data gaps leading to inventories and forest management recommendations at Mount Joy and Mount Misery at Valley Forge National Historical Park
Abrams MD and Johnson SE. 2013. An evaluation of existing vegetation data and data gaps leading to inventories and forest management recommendations at Mount Joy and Mount Misery at Valley Forge National Historical Park. Natural Resource Technical Report. NPS/NER/NRTR—2013/670. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
A fixed-plot, long-term monitoring system was implemented in 1992 to evaluate vegetative communities in two large wooded areas at Valley Forge National Historical Park (NHP). This included 30 paired 2×2-m fenced and unfenced vegetation plots (15 in each area of Mount Joy and Mount Misery). These plots were resurveyed in 1993, 1995–96, 1998, 2003, and 2010. In addition, collection and analyses were conducted of new overstory and understory vegetation data in 20×20-m permanently marked plots in 2010 in the Dry Oak Forest stand on Mount Misery and the Dry Oak Forest stand and Successional Tuliptree Forest stand on Mount Joy. Twenty plots per stand were co-located (when appropriate and possible to do so) with the unfenced long-term vegetation monitoring plots on Mount Misery and Mount Joy. The objectives of this collective monitoring system are to: 1) describe the existing overstory and understory plant community on Mount Misery and Mount Joy in terms of species richness and abundance; and 2) determine changes in abundance and species composition of understory plant communities in fenced and unfenced plots over time. This report includes: (1) the monitoring protocol and timing for future data collection; (2) understory vegetation trends over time (1992–2010) for the 30 paired 2×2-m fenced and unfenced plots; (3) understory and overstory vegetation data from the sixty 20×20-m plots; (4) management prescriptions to close the gap between existing and desired forest conditions (primarily mixed-oak/hickory based on Largay and Sneddon [2007]); (5) minimum management prescriptions considered necessary (assuming white-tailed deer [Odocoileus virginianus] densities of 31–35 deer per forested sq mi) to promote tree regeneration regardless of species composition; and (6) successional trajectory in the absence of active forest management.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Abrams, Marc; Johnson, Sarah
- Date of Issue
- 2013-01
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- MIDN , NRSS , VAFO
- Keywords
- Forest Health, Monitoring, Vegetation, Vegetation Monitoring
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Forest/Woodland Communities