The Apalachicola National Forest is the largest U.S. National Forest in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It encompasses and is the only national forest located in the

Florida Panhandle The Florida Panhandle (also West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida; it is a Salient (geography), salient roughly long and wide, lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia (U. ...

. The National Forest provides water and land-based outdoors activities such as off-road biking, hiking, swimming, boating, hunting, fishing, horse-back riding, and

off-road Off-roading is the activity of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, and other natural terrain. Types of off-roading range in intensity, from leisure drives with unmodified vehicl ...

ATV usage. Apalachicola National Forest contains two Wilderness Areas:

Bradwell Bay Wilderness The Bradwell Bay Wilderness is part of the United States National Wilderness Preservation System, located in the Florida panhandle adjacent to the Apalachicola National Forest. The wilderness was established on 3 January 1975 by the Eastern W ...

and

Mud Swamp/New River Wilderness The Mud Swamp/New River Wilderness is part of Apalachicola National Forest, located in the Florida panhandle. The refuge was established on September 28, 1984. Mud Swamp consists of very poorly drained clay-rich soil, holding more water than ne ...

. There are also several special purpose areas: Camel Lake Recreation Area, Fort Gadsden Historical Site,

Leon Sinks Geological Area The Leon Sinks Geological Area is located on the Woodville Karst Plain in southern and southwestern Leon County, Florida, United States. It is a mature karstic area on the Upper Floridan Aquifer. It is one of the most extensive underwater cave ...

, Silver Lake Recreation Area, Trout Pond Recreation Area, and Wright Lake Recreation Area. In descending order of forest land area it is located in parts of

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

, Wakulla,

Leon Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...

, and

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

counties

The forest is headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, Tallahassee, as are all three National Forests in Florida, but there are local

forest ranger A ranger, park ranger, park warden, or forest ranger is a law enforcement person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands – national, state, provincial, or local parks. Description "Parks" may be broadly defined by some systems in thi ...

district offices located in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and Crawfordville.

Hunting and fishing

Hunting and fishing are monitored and governed by the

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is a Florida government agency founded in 1999 and headquartered in Tallahassee. It manages and regulates the state's fish and wildlife resources, and enforces related laws. Officers ar ...

(FWC). The national forest itself is a wildlife management area. The FWC divides the management area into sections that allow dog hunting, still hunting, and private property. Modern gun season for large game starts

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

weekend and ends in January. The Apalachicola National Forest also manages the Chipola Experimental Forest in

Calhoun John C. Calhoun (1782–1850) was the 7th vice president of the United States. Calhoun can also refer to: Surname * Calhoun (surname) Inhabited places in the United States *Calhoun, Georgia *Calhoun, Illinois * Calhoun, Kansas * Calhoun, Kentuc ...

county in cooperation with the FWC, for youth hunting.

Environment

The Apalachicola National Forest is in the

southeastern conifer forests The Southeastern conifer forests are a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the southeastern United States. It is the largest conifer forest ecoregion east of the Mississippi River. It is also the southernmost instance of temperate coniferous ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

. Areas of the national forest with dry, sandy soils support

Florida longleaf pine sandhill The Florida longleaf pine sandhill is a forest system found on sandhills in the coastal plains of northern Florida, ranging from the panhandle to the central peninsula. Particular examples can be found in Ocala National Forest, Withlacoochee State ...

s and

east Gulf coastal plain near-coast pine flatwoods The east Gulf coastal plain near-coast pine flatwoods are forests and woodlands found in the eastern Gulf coastal plain, in the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. They take the form of forests and woodlands on broad, s ...

. Sandhills are

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

s dominated by longleaf pine (''

Pinus palustris The longleaf pine (''Pinus palustris'') is a pine species native to the Southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from East Texas to southern Virginia, extending into northern and central Florida. In this area it is also known as ...

''). Pine flatwoods are forests and woodlands on broad, sandy flatlands. Both of these pine communities are sustained by frequent fires. Near the floodplains of spring-fed rivers grow

southern coastal plain hydric hammock The southern coastal plain hydric hammock is a wetland hammock community found on the flat lowlands of the southern and outermost parts of the Atlantic Coastal Plain in the states of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. These forests of evergreen and de ...

s, dense forests of evergreen and deciduous hardwood trees.

Blackwater river A blackwater river is a type of river with a slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. As vegetation decays, tannins leach into the water, making a transparent, acidic water that is darkly stained, resembling black te ...

s support

southern coastal plain blackwater river floodplain forest The southern coastal plain blackwater river floodplain forest is a forest system found in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Georgia. These forests occur in the drainages of blackwater rivers and streams whose dark water is caused by high levels o ...

s of baldcypress (''

Taxodium distichum ''Taxodium distichum'' (bald cypress, swamp cypress; french: cyprès chauve; ''cipre'' in Louisiana) is a deciduous conifer in the family Cupressaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States. Hardy and tough, this tree adapts to a wide r ...

'') along their banks. Major rivers support diverse east Gulf coastal plain large river floodplain forests. Notable animals that inhabit this forest are

red-cockaded woodpecker The red-cockaded woodpecker (''Leuconotopicus borealis'') is a woodpecker endemic to the southeastern United States. Description The red-cockaded woodpecker is small to mid-sized species, being intermediate in size between North America's two ...

fox squirrel The fox squirrel (''Sciurus niger''), also known as the eastern fox squirrel or Bryant's fox squirrel, is the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America. Despite the differences in size and coloration, it is sometimes mistaken for ...

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

gray fox The gray fox (''Urocyon cinereoargenteus''), or grey fox, is an omnivorous mammal of the family Canidae, widespread throughout North America and Central America. This species and its only congener, the diminutive island fox (''Urocyon littor ...

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

wild turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an Upland game bird, upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic ...

and

alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

. It is also home to several wetland plant communities.

Southern coastal plain nonriverine basin swamp Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

s are large, seasonally flooded depressions of baldcypress (''Taxodium distichum'') and swamp tupelo (''

Nyssa biflora ''Nyssa biflora'', commonly referred to as the swamp tupelo, or swamp black-gum is a species of tupelo that lives in wetland habitats. Swamp tupelo grows chiefly in the coastal plains from Delaware, eastern Maryland, and southeastern Virginia, ...

''). East Gulf coastal plain savannas and wet prairies are low, flat plains covered in grasses and sedges, which are seasonally flooded and maintained by frequent fires.

Southern coastal plain nonriverine cypress dome The southern coastal plain nonriverine cypress dome is a forested wetland community found in the southern Atlantic coastal plain, in the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. They are small forested wetlands characteri ...

s are small wetlands of pond cypress (''

Taxodium ascendens ''Taxodium ascendens'', also known as pond cypress, is a deciduous conifer of the genus ''Taxodium'', native to North America. Many botanists treat it as a variety of bald cypress, ''Taxodium distichum'' (as ''T. distichum'' var. ''imbricatum'') ...

'') notable for their dome-shaped appearance. The Forest contains thousands of acres of

old growth An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance (ecology), disturbance, and thereby exhibits un ...

Pond Cypress ''Taxodium ascendens'', also known as pond cypress, is a deciduous conifer of the genus ''Taxodium'', native to North America. Many botanists treat it as a variety of bald cypress, ''Taxodium distichum'' (as ''T. distichum'' var. ''imbricatum'' ...

swamps (

cypress dome A cypress dome is a type of freshwater forested wetland, or a swamp, found in the southeastern part of the United States. They are dominated by the ''Taxodium spp''., either the bald cypress (''Taxodium distichum''), or pond cypress (''Taxodium asc ...

s). In addition,

contains about of old-growth

Slash Pine ''Pinus elliottii'', commonly known as slash pine,Family, P. P. (1990). Pinus elliottii Engelm. slash pine. ''Silvics of North America: Conifers'', (654), 338. is a conifer tree native to the Southeastern United States. Slash pine is named after ...

- Swamp Tupelo swamps.

Gallery

Image:Doghunter.JPG, Hunters listening for the direction of dogs following the scent of a

white tail deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

Image:Apalachicola pond.JPG, An artificial pond off of FH-111 Image:SilverLkRecAreaOct07.JPG, Silver Lake Recreation Area, a part of the Apalachicola National Forest, about from

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...

, in 2007 Image:Trout Pond Recreation Area 2.png, Trout Pond Recreation Area, a part of the Apalachicola National Forest, about south of Tallahassee Image:East Fork Fire Burn Scar.jpg, This image shows a large area burned by a forest fire, which appears as dark pink ring-shaped patch at the left side of the image Image:Woods5.jpg, An unimproved road in the Wildlife Management Area off of Hwy. 67 Image:Apalachicola National Forest Restricted Area sign on FR-313 - 7 April 2020.jpg, Sign warning vehicles to remain on numbered forest roads

References

External links

* *
The Florida Trail in the Apalachicola National ForestField Guide to Flora in Apalachicola National Forest
{{Authority control National Forests of Florida Protected areas of Liberty County, Florida Protected areas of Wakulla County, Florida Protected areas of Leon County, Florida Protected areas of Franklin County, Florida

Hunting and fishing

Environment

Gallery

See also

References

External links