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There are a variety of needs for knowing forest types. The type influences many factors such as rainfall interception, transpiration, soil slope stability, and suitability (depending on its age) for animal and plant species. They have different values for wood, as habitat, and as an element in watersheds. The Society of American Foresters (SAF) has been classifying and describing forest types since 1929. The SAF bulletin (1980), entitled Forest Cover Types of the United States and Canada, is the Society's recent attempt to bring order to the existing confusion surrounding the subject. In the eastern hardwood forest, "the seemingly chaotic mingling of species often makes type determination difficult." Nevertheless, the types decribed by the SAF are recognizable and useable. Landsat imagery can be used fairly effectively to identify forest areas. The procedures of Fies (1983) suggest that land factors (e.g., slope, aspect, elevation) can be used to estimate the likely type or a group of types on an area known from Landsat to be a forest. We do not ask field staff with unknown and various training and experience to name the forest type. We ask for a few observations and then use the computer analyses of topographic factors to suggest the most likely type and that for the future. The naming approaches that for potential natural vegetation.
Herein is the list of types and variants within Virginia based on The Society of American Foresters (1980). The list that may make identification of the type of a particular stand in the field easier and more consistently judged than in the past. Beside each type name (bold) are the numbers to be used in The Trevey analysis.
See also Type and Tract Codes.
Forest cover types (frequently-used name in bold) (with SAF code and variants (listed beneath the major name) used within The Trevey. US Forest Service codes (1984) are shown in brackets (to expedite use of The Trevey on public lands).
01. (020) White pine-Red Oak (n. red oak)-red maple [41]
red oak-basswood-white ash
white ash
02. (021) White Pine-Poplar [59]
white pine-yellow poplar
white pine-oak
03. (022) White Pine-Hemlock [04]
white pine-hemlock-red spruce
white pine-hemlock-n. hardwoods
white pine-hemlock-oak
04. (023) Eastern Hemlock [05]
05. (024) Hemlock-Yellow Birch [05]
06. (025) Sugar Maple-Beech-yellow birch [81]
07. (026) Sugar Maple-Basswood [80]
08. (027) Sugar Maple [80]
09. (28) Black Cherry-Maple [80]
10. (030) Red Spruce-Yellow Birch [10]
11. (034) Red Spruce-Fraser Fir [10]
fraser fir
12. (039) Black Ash-American Elm-red maple [71]
13. (040) Post Oak-Blackjack Oak 51]
post oak
14. (044) Chestnut Oak [52]
chestnut oak-red oak
chestnut oak-white oak
chestnut oak-scarlet oak
chestnut oak-black oak-scarlet oak
chestnut oak-yellow poplar
chestnut oak-pitch pine [40]
15. (045) Pitch Pine [38]
pitch pine-white pine
pitch pine-Va. pine
pitch pine-table mtn. pine
pitch pine-shortleaf pine
pitch pine-scarlet oak
pitch pine-black oak
pitch pine-chestnut oak
16. (046)Redcedar [35]
eastern. redcedar-pine
eastern redcedar-hardwood [42]
eastern redcedar-pine-hardwood [42]
17. (050) Black Locust [50]
18. (051) White Pine-Chestnut Oak [00]
chestnut oak-white pine-red oak [40]
19. (052) White Oak-Black Oak-Northern Red Oak [53]
white oak-n. red oak
white oak-black oak
white oak-scarlet oak
white oak-black oak-chestnut oak
white oak-s. red oak
black oak-red oak
black oak-scarlet oak
black oak-scarlet oak-chestnut oak
scarlet oak
scarlet oak-chestnut oak
hickory-oak
scarlet oak-pitch pine [40]
20. (053) White Oak [54]
21. (055) Northern Red Oak [55]
n. red oak-chestnut oak
22. (057) Yellow Poplar [56]
yellow poplar-Virginia pine
yellow poplar-oak
23. (058) Yellow Poplar-Hemlock [56]
24. (059) Yellow Poplar-White Oak-Northern Red Oak [56]
yellow poplar-white oak-sugar maple
yellow poplar-white ash
25. (60) Beech-Sugar Maple [80]
26. (061) River Birch-Sycamore [72]
27. (072) Southern Scrub Oak [57]
28. (075) Shortleaf Pine [32]
29. (076) Shortleaf Pine-Oak [44]
30. (078) Virginia Pine-Oak [45]
31. (079) Virginia Pine [33]
table mountain pine [39]
32. (080) Lobolly Pine-Shortleaf Pine [30]
33. (081) Loblolly Pine [31]
34. (082) Loblolly Pine-Hardwood [46]
35. (087) Sweetgum-Yellow Poplar [58]
36. (088) Willow Oak-Water Oak-Diamondleaf Oak [60]
37. (091) Swamp Chestnut Oak-Cherrybark Oak [61]
38. (092) Sweetgum-Willow oak [62]
39. (093) Sugarberry-American Elm-Green Ash [63]
green ash
40. (094) Sycamore-Sweetgum-American Elm [75]
41. (095) Black willow [74]
42. (096) Overcup Oak-Water Hickory [65]
43. (097) Atlantic White Cedar [66]
44. (098) Pond pine [36]
45. (101) Baldcypress [67]
46. (102) Baldcypress-Tupelo [67]
baldcypress
47. (103) Water Tupelo-Swamp Tupelo [67]
48. Sweetbay-Swamp Tupelo-Red Maple
49. (108) Red Maple [80]
50. (109) Hawthorn [6,9,50,80]
51. (110) Black Oak [51]
The assistance of D. Ann Rasberry, Michael Fies is appreciated.
| A table for major (SAF) forest types in southwestern Virginia based on analyses by Michael L. Fies, 1983. Predicting forest cover types in southwestern Virginia using topographic information. MS Thesis, VPI and SU, Blacksburg, Va. 134pp.; Table 10, page 79-80). Forest types are abbreviated as follows: RO = red oak; WBRO = white oak-black oak-red oak; CO = chestnut oak; SM = sugar maple; YP = yellow poplar; YWRO = yellow poplarwhite oak-red oak; and HEM = hemlock. |
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1. Elevation less than or equal 3450' ...2 2.Aspect 136-225, or 271-315. ...3 3. Elevation less than 1700' ...YWRO 4. Shape is a slope or ridge ...5 5. Elevation 1701-2950' ......6 6. Slope equal to or less than 25 degrees ...7 7. Slope equal to or less than 15 ...WBRO 8. Aspect 136-180 degrees ....YP 9. Slope equal to or less than 30.....10 10. Elevation is equal to or less than 2450' .......11 11. Slope is equal to or less than 20 degrees........YP 12. Aspect 91-135 or 316-360... 13 13. Shape is a slope or knob .... RO 14. Shape is a slope .... 15 15. Aspect 1-90 or 316-360 degrees ....YWRO 16. Shape is a valley .... WBRO 17. Slope 31-35 .... CO 18. Aspect 1-90 or 271-360. ....19 19. Slope equal to or less than 15 .... 20 20. Aspect 1-45 or 316-360 .... 21 21. Shape is a ridge or saddle ........SM 22. Slope is equal to or less than 10 degrees .... RO 23. Shape is a valley ...SM 24. Elevation 3451-3950' ....25 25. Shape is a slope or saddle .... CO 26. Slope 1-20.... WBRO |
Literature Cited
Fies, M. L. 1983. Predicting forest cover types in southwestern Virginia using topographic information. M. S. THesis, VP and SU, Blacksburg, Va. xii + 134 pp.
Society of American Foresters. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and Canada. (map and manual). Soc. Am. For., Washington, D.C. 148 p.
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Last revision January 17, 2000.