In April 2000, wildfire burned 130 acres at Point Lookout, south of Havice Valley Road, in the eastern end of Mifflin County. After this wildfire occurred, resource managers within the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources had several questions about regrowth, and when Helen Roback of the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society called them offering to do inventory work on state land, the Point Lookout Study was born.

The first question was "How does fire within the forest affect new growth and species diversity, and how much does deer browsing affect the appearance of new species?” The second question that arose later was "How would fire affect the new growth and species diversity in an area without or having little established or competitive regeneration in an area harvested down to shelterwood stocking levels?"

In Spring of 2001 the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society began a Growing Greener Grant project funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources under the education and outreach category. The focus of this project was to investigate the role of native plants in the Upper Penns Creek watershed and their relationship to water quality.

Another component of the project was to compile a website overview of the study findings. This site includes a complete list of survey sites, a plant list, and an interactive Floristic Quality Assessment Calculator, as well as numerous resources and information on Heritage Sites and Outreach Projects.