Introduction

The central Pennsylvania study region is a land of natural and human contrasts that add important dimensions to the HERO project. It has rugged hollows and hills in the western part of the region, but broad valleys and low ridges in the eastern part. It has a humid climate with warm summers and cold winters. It has rich, thick soils in the valleys, but poor, thin soils on the forested hills and ridges. It is prone to flooding, yet is also surprisingly prone to drought. It is stunningly diverse socioeconomically, with coexisting agrarian, industrial, and post-industrial economies. The Central Pennsylvania HERO investigators focused their research on the heart of central Pennsylvania, Centre County, because it possesses all of these characteristics within a relatively small area.

This chapter describes Centre County's physical and human landscapes and its vulnerability to hydroclimatic extremes, specifically floods and droughts. It focuses on the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of two important venues for human–environment interaction: emergency management and water supply management. The chapter starts by painting a picture of the physical and human landscapes on which these interactions between people and their environment take place.

The physical landscape

Centre County lies in the geographical center of Pennsylvania (Figure 12.1; see also Figure 8.2), covering 1108 square miles (2870 square kilometers). The county sits astride parts of two major physiographic provinces: the Appalachian Plateau to the west and the Ridge and Valley region to the east (Figure 12.1).