Hall of New York State Environment

This hall chronicles the development of New York State's natural landscape over time. It describes the geological history from Precambrian times (2 billion years ago) to the present day, including glaciation, and displays of local fossils showing that New York was a marine environment at one time. The hall uses the area of Stissing Mountain and the Village of Pine Plains in the Hudson Valley as an example because of its varied terrain: mountains, natural lakes, forests, variety of rock formations, and both wild and cultivated land.

The hall also describes New York State agriculture and ecology, and how these affect the evolution of the landscape. Agricultural exhibits explain the processes of soil creation and soil conservation, the importance of crop rotation, the use of natural fertilizers in the soil (nitrogen-fixing bacteria), the structure of a bean plant, root structure of a plant, and life in the soil-an important factor in the existence of life above.

The ecological exhibits cover the water cycle, the relationship of plants to geology, the cycle of nutrition and decay, photosynthesis and respiration, life in a pond as a closed system, and changes to the environment through the seasons.