Environment of Pennsylvania facts for kids

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is a special state, also called a commonwealth, located in the northeastern part of the United States. It was one of the original 13 colonies that formed the USA! About 12.8 million people live here, and you can find many different types of environments. Pennsylvania is famous for its rolling hills, flat plateaus, tall mountains, and deep valleys. In fact, half of Pennsylvania is covered in forests, with the only flat, low areas found in the southeast.

Mountains in Pennsylvania

Blue Knob Mountain in the Quaker Valley of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is home to many mountain ranges. The highest point is at Mt. Davis, which stands at 3,213 feet tall. The main mountain ranges you'll find here are the Appalachian, Allegheny, and Pocono Mountains.

The Appalachian Mountain Range stretches across Pennsylvania and 17 other states, making it the largest mountain range in the state. The Allegheny Mountain Range connects to the Appalachians in western and central Pennsylvania. The Pocono Mountain Range is located in the northeastern part of the state. Both the Allegheny and Pocono mountains are the two biggest sub-ranges in Pennsylvania.

Other mountain ranges include the Bear Pond Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, Conewago Mountains, Music Mountains, Town Hill Mountain Range, and the Endless Mountains. If you want to see a full list of mountains in Pennsylvania, you can check out Category:Mountain ranges of Pennsylvania.

Rivers and Waterways

Susquehanna River

Pennsylvania has more important waterways than any other U.S. state! There are over 83,000 miles of rivers, creeks, and streams flowing through the state. The main rivers include the Delaware River, Allegheny River, Ohio River, Monongahela River, and the Susquehanna River.

Every river in Pennsylvania is given one or more special classifications by the Pennsylvania Scenic Rivers program. These classifications are: wild, scenic, pastoral, recreational, or modified recreational. A river can have more than one classification, but it will always have at least one. To see a complete list of rivers, visit List of rivers of Pennsylvania.

Managing Waste in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has many places where trash is taken, called landfills. There are 45 municipal waste landfills, which means they hold everyday trash from homes and businesses. There are also landfills for construction waste and other types of waste, plus places that burn trash.

These landfills don't just hold trash from people in Pennsylvania. They also take trash from other states, like New Jersey and New York. This means Pennsylvania handles a lot of waste. While this helps some counties earn money through fees, it also means Pennsylvania has a lot of trash per person compared to most other states.

Recycling in Pennsylvania

The universal recycling symbol

One great way to reduce the amount of trash going into Pennsylvania's landfills is through recycling! A statewide recycling effort began in July 1988 with a law called the Municipal Waste Planning Recycling and Waste Reduction Act, also known as Act 101.

This act had four main goals:

• To recycle 25 percent of Pennsylvania's solid waste by 1997.
• To send less trash to landfills.
• To encourage the use of products that can be recycled or are made from recycled materials.
• To teach everyone in the state about how important recycling and reducing waste are.

These plans were put into action over several years in different towns and cities. Each county was responsible for managing its towns' recycling efforts. They had to create solid waste plans and send yearly reports to the state about their recycling progress. These reports were then combined to show how well the whole state was doing.

Act 101 was funded by a "Recycling Fund," which got money from a $2 fee for every ton of trash that went into landfills. This fee is still collected today. The act has been updated a few times to make the recycling program even stronger.

One important update, Act 140, set rules for how communities should spend recycling grants. It also gave towns and cities requirements like:

• All residents must have trash and recycling services.
• There must be a curbside recycling program for homes.
• There must be a recycling program for businesses.
• Information about recycling must be shared with homes and businesses twice a year.
• There must be a program to enforce recycling rules.
• Special programs must exist for collecting things like tires or hazardous waste.
• Programs to prevent litter and illegal dumping must be in place.
• A person or team must be in charge of collecting recycling data and reporting it.

These efforts have had great results:

• In 2014, Pennsylvania recycled over 16.84 million tons of materials. This helped remove 15.88 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions from the air!
• In 2013, 6.12 million tons were recycled, removing 7.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.
• In 2012, Pennsylvania recycled over 8.5 million tons of resources.

EcoTourism in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's beautiful natural places can be explored through its many national parks. There are 19 National Parks and 9 other park sites that are connected to or managed by the National Park Service in Pennsylvania.

These parks attract many visitors, bringing in a lot of money for the state. Each year, nearly 10 million people visit these sites, creating an economic benefit of over $453 million! This money comes from things like entrance fees, buying food, and souvenirs.

Below is a table showing some of the National State Parks in Pennsylvania, along with their yearly costs and how many people visit them.

National State Parks in PA	Location in PA	Yearly Operation Costs (Hundreds)	Yearly Visitation	Yearly Personal Costs
Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site	Gallitzin, PA	2,115	148,280	Free to Public
Appalachian National Scenic Trail(Appalachian Trail)	Pen Mar, PA to Delaware Water Gap	1,586	N/A	Free to Public
Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network	Towanda, PA to York, PA	9,577	4,925,582	Free to Public
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area	Bushkill, PA *	9,832	4,314,085	Cars: $7.00 Bikes: $1.00 Walking:$1.00
Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site	Philadelphia, PA	397	13,128	Free to Public
Eisenhower National Historic Site	Gettysburg, PA	1,123	54,668	Kids: $5.00 Adults: $7.50
First State National Historical Park	Chaddsford, PA	717	N/A	Free to Public
Flight 93 National Memorial	Schanksville, PA	1,588	262,441	Free to Public
Fort Necessity National Battlefield	Farmington, PA	1,615	199,837	Free to Public
Friendship Hill National Historic Site	Point Marion, PA	579	32,864	Free to Public
Gettysburg National Military Park	Gettysburg, PA	7,004	1,003,581	Free to Public
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site	Elverson, PA	1,437	44,929	Free to Public
Independence National Historical Park	Philadelphia, PA	23, 876	3,552,672	Free to Public
Johnstown Flood National Memorial	South Fork, PA	821	139,603	Free to Public
Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail	Dunbar, PA	406	N/A	Free to Public
Steamtown National Historic Site	Scranton, PA	5,709	81,802	Entrance Fee: $7.00 Train Ride:$5.00
Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial	Philadelphia, PA	166	1,608	Free to Public
Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River	Pike and Wayne, PA	N/A	228,284	Free to Public
Valley Forge National Historic Park	Valley Forge, PA	6,396	1,897,029	Free to Public

Some park sites in Pennsylvania are affiliated with or managed by the National Park Service but don't use their main budget. This means we don't have their exact operation costs, but we do know their yearly personal costs (what it costs to visit).

Affiliated or Managed by National Park Service within PA	Location in PA	Yearly Personal Costs
Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail	Lancaster, PA	Free to Public
Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor	Easton, PA	Free to Public
Gloria Dei Church National Historic Site	Philadelphia, PA	Free to Public
Lower Delaware National Wild and Scenic River	Philadelphia, PA	Free to Public
North Country National Scenic Trail	Baker, PA	Free to Public
Oil Region National Heritage Area	Oil City, PA	Free to Public
Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area	Homestead, PA	Free to Members $1 for Kids $3 for Adults
Schuylkill River Valley	Pottstown, PA	Free to Public
Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail	Philadelphia, PA	Free to Public