Environmental Factors

Visiting First State, can make you feel as though you have traveled back in time. With historic buildings, rolling agricultural fields, and an abundance of plants, animals, and insects the park may appear as though it has been frozen in place.

Yet time has not stopped at First State and forces both natural and human-made constantly change the land. Erosion and weathering continue the painstaking process of wearing away ground and changing rock into soil. Water flowing down stream, down river, down hill and freezing and thawing in an endless cycle of winters assists in the process of shaping the landscape.

These forces are natural and the changes they cause are neither positive nor negative, but other factors such as climate change, flooding, and non-native species also threaten to damage the health of our resources. Below you can learn about how the park is managing non-native plants and the Spotted Lanternfly.