The CRC Forest Dynamics Plot is located at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park’s Conservation and Research Center facility in Front Royal, VA, adjacent to the northern end of Shenandoah National Park. It lies at the intersection of three of the major physiographic provinces of the eastern US: the Blue Ridge, Ridge and Valley, and Piedmont provinces. The forest type is typical mature secondary eastern mixed deciduous forest, with a canopy dominated by tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), hickories (Carya spp.), and oaks (Quercus spp.), and an understory composed mainly of eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), spicebush (Lindera benzoin), paw-paw (Asimina triloba), and American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana). Installation and census work began on the plot in May 2008, and as of October 2008, installation of the plot has been completed and all stems >1 cm dbh on 6 ha have been tagged, mapped, measured, and identified. The plot also contains a 4-ha fenced enclosure where white-tailed deer have been excluded since 1990, as well as three 1-ha Smithsonian Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity Program (SI-MAB) plots, all of which have been censused one to several times since 1990. Current plans are to complete tagging and measurement of all stems by the end of 2008, finish mapping and identifications on the entire plot by September 2009, and begin collecting data for the CTFS Forest Carbon Research initiative in 2009.