Plant Inventory at Blue Ridge Parkway in 2002-2003 - Data Package (INTERNAL)

The Blue Ridge Parkway is remarkable in many aspects and has served a large number of public interests from recreational activities including sightseeing and hiking, to natural history studies such as bird watching and wildflower identification, and has been a particularly valuable asset for scientific research. The linearity of the park boundary and the fact that it extends over 469 miles along the heart of the Southern Blue Ridge makes it unique among Park Service land holdings. The extreme range in elevation from 600 feet to 6,410 feet in elevation and its traversal of two major ecological biomes occurring over a wide array of geologic substrates makes the Blue Ridge Parkway one of the most diverse and biologically significant properties managed by the Park Service. The primary goals of this plant inventory conducted in 2002-2003 were to: 1) Establish at least 288 permanent plots throughout the park for present and future monitoring purposes, 2) Document all ecological communities on the site as defined by the United States National Vegetation Classification (Grossman et al. 1998, Anderson et al. 1998) and 3) Collect and voucher new species of vascular plants found in plots (or anywhere on Parkway property) that have not already been documented by previous researchers.