the climate of the park, and in turn also its flora and fauna, is largely typical for mountainous regions of the eastern mid-atlantic woodland, and indeed a large portion of common species are typical of ecosystems at lower altitudes as well. according to the a. w. kuchler u.s. potential natural vegetation types, shenandoah national park has an appalachian oak ("104") vegetation type with an eastern hardwood forest, aka temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ("25") vegetation form.