Vegetation

The reservoir property is heavily forested on rolling to steep terrain. Soils over most of the area are fertile and fall into the Cecil and Porter loam types, considered good to excellent for hardwood timber growth. Canopy closure on the majority of the property is 80-90%.

The entire area can best be described as an uneven-aged poplar-oak woodland, with yellow poplar, white oak, northern red oak and black oak predominating. Black gum, chestnut and scarlet oak, red maple, walnut, mockernut and pignut hickory, and Virginia and shortleaf pine are also well represented in the overstory.

Dogwood, spicebush, mountain laurel, sassafras, witch hazel, and saplings of canopy species comprise a majority of the understory. Densities vary from site to site, with thick stands of mountain laurel present in some areas.

Herbaceous ground cover is sparse due to the dense canopy cover, although a healthy variety of ferns, ephemerals, and other plants common to upland forest habitats of the region are present.

Tree Cover / Area Descriptions (see map)

Area A: Uneven-aged hardwoods with scattered Virginia and shortleaf pine. Yellow poplar, white oak, red oak dominate. Red maple, black gum, chestnut oak, mockernut hickory, black walnut also present. All age classes represented.

Area B: Uneven-aged oak/poplar. Yellow poplar and red oak dominate lower slopes, chestnut oak on upper slopes and ridge tops. Mostly mature timber. Thick stands of mountain laurel on some southwest slopes.

Area C: Rocky with shallow soils; chestnut oak and mountain laurel dominate. Mostly mature timber. Yellow poplar present on lower slopes.

Area D: Uneven-aged oak/poplar. White oak, red oak, chestnut oak, and yellow poplar dominate. Pole size to mature timber.

Area E: Bottomland; once an old field. Pole size yellow poplar dominate.

Area F: Uneven-aged yellow poplar and oak; mature timber scattered throughout.

Wildlife

Due to the relatively undisturbed nature of the area, variety of vegetation, and presence of lakes with associated shoreline, the reservoir property seems to support an excellent quantity and diversity of wildlife species.

Fish

Largemouth bass, bluegill, and black crappie are commonly encountered. Shallow bays on both lakes provide excellent spawning habitat for bass and bluegill. Sport fishing is reportedly excellent. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has no sampling data on record and at present has no plans to stock the reservoir.

Amphibians/Reptiles

Observed: green frog, spring peeper, northern cricket frog, gray treefrog, wood frog, American toad, eastern box turtle, snapping turtle, five-lined skink, black rat snake.

Of note: four-toed salamander, three-toed salamander, seal salamander, northern chorus frog, southeastern crowned snake, and river cooter are interesting possibilities. Chorus frogs are disappearing from all over their range and have gone from fairly common to rare in Albemarle County in the past 15 years. Wood frog egg masses were discovered in the southern portion of the natural area in 1995.

Mammals

Observed: eastern chipmunk, gray squirrel, beaver, white-tailed deer, raccoon. Excellent habitat present for: northern short-tailed shrew, little brown bat, eastern pipestrelle bat, red bat, white-footed mouse, woodland vole, gray fox, mink, striped skunk.

Of note: star-nosed mole, Keen’s myotis, silver-haired bat, southern bog lemming, eastern woodrat, meadow jumping mouse, black bear, river otter, and bobcat are some less common possibilities.

Birds

Observed: 70+ species to date. Large tracts of mature hardwoods, especially oak, offer excellent habitat for nesting neotropical migrants. Sixty-five acres of surface water attract waterfowl, including (observed): wood duck, hooded merganser, American coot, mallard, black duck, Canada goose, and pied-billed grebe. Shorebirds should be watched for in mud flats at the southern end of upper reservoir.

Of note: a survey by the author on the morning of May 8, 1996 from the entrance gate to the caretaker’s residence and vicinity of Round Top Mountain yielded 12 species of wood warblers including cerulean, black-throated blue, parula, and blackburnian. Three singing woodland thrush species were also recorded: wood thrush, Swainson’s thrush, and veery.

On June 25, 1997 a singing male prothonotary warbler was observed on the peninsula northwest of the caretaker’s residence. No nest was discovered. A common nester along coastal areas of Virginia, this species is rare in Albemarle County with no known nesting records away from the James River.

References

Taxonomic identification of plants and wildlife referenced herein by common name can be found in:

• Eastern Trees, George Petrides, Houghton Mifflin, 1988
• Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia, Bernard Martof, et al, University of North Carolina Press, 1980
• Mammals of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland, William David Webster, et al, University of North Carolina Press, 1985
• Virginia’s Birdlife: An Annotated Checklist, Virginia Society of Ornithology, 1987
• The Freshwater Fishes, Samuel Eddy, Wm. C. Brown Company, 1974