TheSusquehanna Valley is a region of low-lying land that borders theSusquehanna River in theU.S. states ofNew York,Pennsylvania, andMaryland. The valley consists of areas that lie along the main branch of the river, which flows fromUpstate New York through Pennsylvania and Maryland into theChesapeake Bay, as well as areas that lie along the shorterWest Branch in Pennsylvania.[1]
Historians and environmentalists at theChesapeake Conservancy have described the Susquehanna River as the "lifeblood" of the Chesapeake Bay and also as "extension of the Susquehanna Valley that the Atlantic Ocean has steadily flooded over the last 15,000 years."[3]
Within Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna Valley is linked inextricably with the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which extends from Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland through Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York. Pennsylvania's connections to the watershed are "primarily in the counties along the Susquehanna River, the West Branch of the Susquehanna, and their tributaries," according to Shelby Splain. "Located in the middle of the commonwealth, about half of the land in Pennsylvania drains into it."[4]
The Susquehanna Watershed incorporates all the valley sidewalls within the Susquehanna Valley, including large areas of the southern tier counties of lowerNew York state, the majority of centralPennsylvania's Susquehanna Gap above and pastLancaster andYork County into upperMaryland, where it meets the headwaters of theChesapeake Bay aboveAberdeen, Maryland.
Counties constituting the Susquehanna Valley region ofPennsylvania. Counties in red are those in which theSusquehanna River and West Branch physically flow, while dark red counties are part of the watershed.
^Ellis,History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
^Ellis,History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
