Environmental Description:  This association is the matrix dry-mesic deciduous forest of most of the south- to southwest-facing slopes of lands adjacent to the Hiawassee River in Tennessee. It occupies extensive areas between Big Rock Island and "The Narrows" at an elevation of about 300-350 m (1025-1175 feet). It is best developed on exposed areas and convex surfaces. This is a more-or-less closed-canopy forest with some open areas where there are massive bedrock exposures or shaly areas. Upslope, this vegetation grades into Pinus echinata and/or Pinus virginiana forests and woodlands, and downslope it grades into deciduous floodplain and riverfront forests. The soils of these areas are mapped as Cataska channery silt loam, which as described does not have any particularly circumneutral or basic character, but the flora seems to reflect these conditions. The Cataska soil is weathered from low-grade metasedimentary rocks such as siltstone, slate and phyllite with some bands of thinly bedded metasandstone. The term "channery" is applied to the soil series; this means that from 15-35% of the soil material is composed of "channers," a flat particle between a cobble and a flagstone in size (i.e., between 2 and 150 mm long).