- HIKING
Rock Spring Nature Preserve
175 Acre Peach Bottom Preserve
Rock Springs consists of a unique habitat of global significance, caused by thin infertile soil derived from underlying serpentine rock geology. Serpentine soil has too much toxic nickel and chromite and too little calcium for most plants but supports an array of rare plant species that have evolved to survive in such conditions. Managing serpentine landscapes as barrens requires significant effort and resources, otherwise the barrens characterized primarily by scrubby grasslands gives way to early successional forest.