LEWISTOWN — Jen Moore still remembers the moment the forest went quiet, then brightened in a way she had never seen. She walked into the PA Firefly Festival expecting a routine outreach assignment. She walked out with a new understanding of Pennsylvania’s night landscape and a calling that would shape her work for years.

Moore, now an environmental education specialist with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources at the Greenwood Furnace State Park Complex in Huntingdon, traces her fascination to that evening in Kellettville, a small community tucked into Forest County.

She had been representing Chapman State Park at the festival, staffing an informational table and answering questions about local wildlife. When the sun went down, she joined the guided walks that introduced visitors to the dozens of firefly species found in the region.

“I was introduced to synchronous fireflies through the PA Firefly Festival which is held in Kellettville, Pa. each year,” Moore told the audience.

Photo courtesy of DCNR
Fireflies are bioluminescent beetles that use light to communicate, attract mates and deter predators.

She followed the group into the woods, expecting scattered flashes. Instead, the forest shifted. The lights began to rise and dim in coordinated waves, brightening the understory in a rhythm that felt almost alive. The species, Photinus carolinus, was once believed to exist only in the Great Smoky Mountains. Seeing it in Pennsylvania changed her sense of what the state’s forests held.

“I participated in the nightly walks and observations of various firefly species but specifically synchronous,” she said. “I became intrigued in this species once thought to only be found in Tennessee.”

That moment set her on a new path. Moore joined the board of the PA Firefly Festival, helped expand educational programming and later led nighttime walks at Chapman State Park, where synchronous fireflies were confirmed. She found that visitors who arrived curious often left changed.

“Since then, I have enjoyed conducting programs where visitors have the opportunity to view fireflies in a park setting,” she said.

Her May 12 program for the Towpath Naturalist Society of Mifflin and Juniata County blended science with storytelling. Moore explained how synchronous fireflies communicate, why their flashes align and what makes their behavior so rare. She also emphasized that the spectacle is fragile. Fireflies depend on darkness, moisture and undisturbed forest floors. Even small changes can disrupt their life cycle.

“I have also found the importance of educating the public about fireflies as their species are in decline and there are ways that we can help,” she said.

Moore outlined simple steps residents can take: turn off unnecessary outdoor lights, avoid pesticides, leave leaf litter in natural areas and protect damp, shaded spaces where larvae develop. She also encouraged responsible viewing, reminding attendees that trampling leaf litter can destroy the very creatures people come to see.

Throughout the evening, Moore returned to the idea that wonder and stewardship go hand in hand. She described visitors who arrived expecting a novelty and left with a deeper appreciation for the forest. She spoke about the quiet that falls over a group when the lights begin to pulse in unison, and how that silence often becomes the starting point for conservation.

The program ended with questions from attendees, many of whom shared memories of childhood firefly chases or concerns about declining numbers in their backyards. Moore encouraged them to see those observations as valuable data points. Fireflies, she said, are storytellers of ecosystem health. Their presence signals clean water, intact forests and dark skies. Their absence warns of changes happening too quickly to ignore.

As people left the church, Moore’s message lingered: the magic of synchronous fireflies is real, but so is the responsibility to protect it. What glows in the forest depends on the choices people make long after a presentation ends.