| A unit of Lasting Forests
evolving since March 30, 1999 |
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A Total Forest Management Plan
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This section deals with the location of the area for which a Trevey unit is being prepared.
Name and Compartment Number Name of Area
The need for an area name is evident. In some cases in forestry groups, areas are split into compartments. These are defined by the Society of American Foresters as:
an organization unit or small sub-division of forest area for purposes of orientation, administration, and silvicultural operations, and are defined by permanent boundaries, either of natural features or artifically marked, which are not necessarily coincident with stand boundaries (from Forest Terminology).
Wherever possible an entire watershed is treated as a compartment. In some cases, sub-divisions may be desired. The Trevey analyzes either an entire area or some large part of an area, an entire compartment.
It is recommended that any area subjected to analysis be at least 50 acres (20 hectares) and have at least six stands. The soundness of the analysis increases with increasing acreage, especially if the area is larger than several hundred acres (e.g., having ten 20-acre stands). Analyses of the area are being developed.
Other Names
In some cases, the name of an area will be changed (e.g., to honor a person). Several names may be used interchangeably. All known secondary names are listed for historical value and to make any records more readily cross-referenced and searched
Continent: North America
Nation: United States of America
State:
County Name
An area will be located in only one county for the majority of cases. County names are potentially the key entry-way to information associated with the area.
County Code
The Federal Information Processing System (FIPS) code for the county is used in many data bases. Biologists and others will find it much easier to seek information by entering the FIPS code instead of typing in the county name for information requests. Cross-referencing and relating information is the primary potential use.
Contiguous Counties, Cities, and Large Towns
A matrix has been prepared and stored in the computer indicating all counties and the ones they "touch", or to which they are contiguous. (Adjacency implies nearness-to and not necessarily a "touch".) Contiguity and adjacency are relevant when analyzing deer harvest data, creel surveys, and human population data. These counties form the next largest, most feasible region around the study area. Cities and towns within counties provide special problems. Multi-state regions are suggested.
The Topographic "Window" of the Area (with UTM coordinates)
UTM is an abbreviation for the Universal Transverse Mercator projection, a mapping convention that produces square units that identify every area on the Earth.
UTM Zone
State Plane Coordinate System Zone
Virginia Planning District Name and Number:cts
Virginia is divided into about 22 planning districts. These are multiple-county districts and the basis for much data collection and information. District and state staffs can be helpful and are usually pleased to obtain information about natural resources for their district. Knowing the district suggests appropriate offices for contacts of various sorts.
Contiguous Planning Districts:
State Wildlife Management Regions and Area
These are larger areas of the state often assigned to one wildlife biologist of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Within the regions there are named management areas.
State Fisheries Division Regions
There are large regions of the state, each with divisions and each assigned one or more biologist of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. They are largely administrative areas.
Region of the US Forest Service:
Also fairly stable, Virginia's present designation is Region 8, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. There is one National Forests in Virginia, once composed of the Thomas Jefferson and the George Washington National Forests. The union is now variously named.
Region Number of the US Fish and Wildlife Service: (Although kept fairly constant, the region designations do change. )
Region of the US EPA:
The Natural Resource Conservation Service
Once the national Soil Conservation Service, the state office has headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. There are regions designated within the state.
Watershed - USGS Hydrologic Units
Although river basin, watershed, and hydrologic response units are variously and synonymously used, there is growing acceptance of the use of the U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Unit Map system. The state has four major river basins or regions: Mid-Atlantic, South-Atlantic-Gulf, Ohio, and Tennessee. These are broken into subregions, accounting, and cataloging units. The result is that each subunit has a unique 8-digit identifier. Increasingly within The Trevey, alpha units are used instead of watersheds.
Sample Descriptive Comments (to be replaced)
........ To the west of the ridge, surface water drains into the Potomac River, while the east side drains into Chicamuxen Creet. However, the eastern portion of the area is divided equally into two major drainage areas, with surface water running into Mattawomen Creek from the northern half of the area into a wooded area.
Comments about managed resource space are available.
Ecoregions
Ecoregions include both aquatic and terrestrial habitats, as designated by Bailey (1978 and revised). There are three major ecoregions in Virginia which are subdivided into sections, provinces, and land surfaces. Each unit may have a 6-digit code. It may be useful to correlate wildlife and plant distributions and abundance by ecoregions. An analysis to determine whether representative wildlife areas exist in all ecoregions statewide may be of some planning value.
Ecoregions and Related Names for the Area
Ecoregions
1. 1978 Bailey Description
DOMAIN Humid Temperate
DIVISION Subtropical
PROVINCE Southeastern Mixed Forest
2. 1982 Ecoregions and Land Surface Forms of U.S. (by USFWS)
DOMAIN Humid Temperate
DIVISION Subtropical
PROVINCE Southern Mixed Forest
Slope greater than 80% of area gently sloping
Local Relief 0-100 feet
3. 1994 Bailey Description
DOMAIN
DIVISION Subtropical
PROVINCE Southeastern Mixed Forest
4. Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area
(see Sanders, R.A. and R.A. Rowntree. 1983. Classification of American metropolitan areas by ecoregion and potential natural vegetation, USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station Paper NE-516, Broomall, PA 15p.)
Potential Natural Vegetation
Kuchler developed maps of potential natural vegetation of the U.S. There are several regions in Virginia. These suggest the broad, longterm direction that plant communities are likely to assume.
Physiographic Provinces
There are five physiographic provinces in Virginia. These constitute major barriers for some species, regions of opportunity for others. Analyses of species by province, especially within a county or other area, may help explain the differences in wildlife populations and allow improved selection and management allocations for a certain area.
U.S. Geological Survey Maps
A list of the most currently available contour maps of the area is included. These are the 7 1/2 minute quadrangles (except in the southeastern corner of the state where only 15 minute maps are available). They may be purchased from Virginia Department of Mineral Resources, P.O. Box 3667, Charlottesville, VA 22903. They are also available from select resources. Orthophotoquad sheets (with the same name) are widely available throughout the state and may be of great value to land owners.
One source of GIS data is the US Geological Survey and US EPA seamless National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) said to be located at edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/programs/lccp. An alternative source is Beartooth mapping. Etak provides GIS maping for street addresses.
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Last revision February 17, 2003.