Trees and Shrubs

This Eastern Hemlock is infested by Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, an invasive insect that kills trees within a few years of infestation. Hemlocks are a indicator species that can tell us about things like habitat health and water quality. Click the photo to read all about this invasive species.

NPS/J. French-Burr

A Little About Trees in the Park

A visitor to Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is bound to see both coniferous and deciduous trees. The dominant coniferous (cone-bearing) tree species is the Eastern hemlock which is Pennsylvania's state tree.

The Eastern hemlock is an important component of the forest canopy of 141 different forest clusters, or stands, covering approximately 2,800 acres, or about 5 percent of the recreation area. Eastern hemlocks thrive in damp, cool, shady microclimates and have shallow roots vulnerable to ground fires, erosion, drought, heavy snows, high winds, and human encroachment. Today, the species faces a number of challenges, including an invasive insect from Asia, the hemlock woolly adelgid. This one threat is devastating hemlock stands throughout the east coast, including some areas in this recreation area.

Among the commonly found deciduous (leaf-shedding) trees found in the area include white oak, red maple, and shagbark hickory. There are also some forest communities of river birch found along creeks, lakes, and the Delaware River whose stands help to minimize erosion along the banks of waterways.

 

Common Trees of Pennsylvania - PA Bureau of Forestry

 

Mountain Laurel, the Pennsylvania state flower, is just one of many flowering shrubs that come to life each spring. These begin flowering in June and their blooms are gone by July, so don't wait, if you want to see them. Click on the photo to learn more.

NPS Photo

A Shrub, by Any Other Name...

What's your favorite shrub? Here, we have plenty of shrubs, but our favorites are the flowering ones. Some common shrubs in the recreation area include mountain laurel, Pennsylvania's state flower, which blooms delicate white and pink flowers in June, and rhododendrons. By July, the rhododendrons, with their white flowers bloom, burst to life throughout the park. Old Mine Road, on the New Jersey side of the park, is a great place to see them.

Dingmans Falls, with its Dingmans Creek Trail, is also an excellent place to view rhododendrons in bloom, as they thrive in the acidic soil of hemlock ravines like the one located along Dingmans creek. Another massive cluster of rhododendrons, or 'rhodies' as they are sometimes called can be seen along National Park Drive on the southern end of the park. This flowery experience is something that is particularly loved by park visitors, and visitors return year after year to experience it. For only a couple weeks in early July, the Dingmans Creek Trail becomes a wonderland of sound, smells, and waterfalls. Come see for yourselves. You won't regret it.