VASCULAR PLANT INVENTORY AND PLANT COMMUNITY CLASSIFICATION FOR KINGS MOUNTAIN NATIONAL MILITARY PARK Report for the Vertebrate and Vascular Plant Inventories: Appalachian Highlands and Cumberland/Piedmont Network Prepared by NatureServe for the National Park Service Southeast Regional Office January 2005 NatureServe Kings Mountain National Military Park ii NatureServe is a non-profit organization providing the scientific knowledge that forms the basis for effective conservation action. A NatureServe Technical Report Prepared for the National Park Service under Cooperative Agreement H 5028 01 0435. Citation: Rickie D. White, Jr. and Tom Govus. 2005. Vascular Plant Inventory and Plant Community Classification for Kings Mountain National Military Park. Durham, North Carolina: NatureServe. © 2005 NatureServe NatureServe 6114 Fayetteville Road, Suite 109 Durham, NC 27713 919-484-7857 International Headquarters 1101 Wilson Boulevard, 15th Floor Arlington, Virginia 22209 www.natureserve.org National Park Service Southeast Regional Office Atlanta Federal Center 1924 Building 100 Alabama Street, S.W. Atlanta, GA 30303 The view and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. Government. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute their endorsement by the U.S. Government. This report consists of the main report along with a series of appendices with information about the plants and plant communities found at the site. Electronic files have been provided to the National Park Service in addition to hard copies. Current information on all communities described here can be found on NatureServe Explorer at www.natureserve.org/explorer. Cover photo: Georgia aster (Symphyotrichum georgianum) in mowed power line right of way within park boundary. Photo by Tom Govus. NatureServe Kings Mountain National Military Park iii Acknowledgments We wish to thank all park employees, co-workers, volunteers, and academics who helped with aspects of the preparation, field work, specimen identification, and report writing for this project. In particular we’d like to thank resource manager Chris Revels and technician Rodney Martinez. Mr. Revels allowed our visits to be productive and efficient by supplying past data, housing, GIS resources, and personnel to help us properly research and explore the park. Mr. Martinez worked closely with NatureServe staff in the field and was a welcome and knowledgeable addition to our field work team. Even after we were finished collecting data at the park, Mr. Martinez continued to look for and collect plants for voucher specimens for the collection. We prepared this report for Kings Mountain National Military Park in cooperation with the Inventory and Monitoring Division of the Cumberland/Piedmont Network, National Park Service, Department of the Interior. Teresa Leibfreid of the network provided logistical help throughout the year while supporting the project in an encouraging, thoughtful manner. In addition, Sammi Jo Doyle expertly transferred our data into the correct format for the database NPSpecies. Staff at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Herbarium were especially helpful, patient, and considerate. Intern Erin Lunsford proofed our plant specimens for identification mistakes and mounted most of the specimens in the collection. Assistant Curator Carol Ann McCormick supplied all the necessary tools for identification (rulers, magnifying lenses, parking permits, coffee). Curator Alan Weakley contributed time in helping with the most challenging plant identification issues. Finally, we thank the entire NatureServe South team for their support throughout the project. Judy Teague used her invaluable ArcView skills to provide us with all plot locations and maps needed to complete the project. Mary Russo entered and managed the plot and species data and aided us when we needed to efficiently query datasets. All members of the team contributed a great deal to the final product. NatureServe Kings Mountain National Military Park iv Table of Contents Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents........................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures................................................................................................................................. v List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi List of Appendices ........................................................................................................................ vii Summary........................................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction................................................................................................................................... 2 Study Area .................................................................................................................................. 2 Land History............................................................................................................................... 3 Methods.......................................................................................................................................... 4 Permanent plot establishment .................................................................................................. 4 Vegetation classification ............................................................................................................ 4 Vascular plant inventory........................................................................................................... 5 Results ............................................................................................................................................ 6 Discussion/Conclusions................................................................................................................. 8 Species Inventory ....................................................................................................................... 8 Vegetation community analysis ................................................................................................ 9 Ecological Community Summary........................................................................................... 21 Literature Cited .......................................................................................................................... 23 NatureServe Kings Mountain National Military Park v List of Figures Figure 1. Map of Kings Mountain National Military Park with all permanent points marked at their actual locations................................................................. 26 Figure 2. Species area curves for Kings Mountain National Military Park derived using data from a) just the 15 gridded plots in the park and b) all 21 plots. ............................................................................................................................................. 27 NatureServe Kings Mountain National Military Park vi List of Tables Table 1. Plot numbers and locations for all permanent plots established at Kings Mountain National Battlefield. ....................................................................................... 28 Table 2. List of all plants documented for Kings Mountain National Military Park ordered alphabetically by scientific name....................................................................... 29 Table 3. List of vouchers that were collected at Kings Mountain National Military Park............................................................................................................................... 41 Table 4. Tables of vascular plant diversity measures and species total estimates for Kings Mountain National Military Park ........................................................... 43 Table 5. Exotic plant species at Kings Mountain National Military Park............................ 44 Table 6. Association numbers, plot numbers, and global ranks of all associations identified at Kings Mountain National Military Park (not yet populated). ................................................................................................................................... 48 Table 7. Plot photo names and photo descriptions for Kings Mountain National Military Park. .............................................................................................................. 52 NatureServe Kings Mountain National Military Park vii List of Appendices Appendix I. Plot sheets used for permanent plots (formatted to fit in this report) ..... 54 Appendix II. Descriptions of alliances and associations found at Kings Mountain National Military Park. ...................................................................................................... 62 Appendix III. Photos of selected plots of Kings Mountain National Military Park. 160 Appendix IV. Key to EcoGroups and Ecological Communities of Kings Mountain National Military Park. .................................................................................................... 164 NatureServe Kings Mountain National Military Park 1 Summary The first step in any