Monroe State Forest is a
state forest
A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign or federated state, or territory.
Background
The precise application of the terms vary by jurisdiction. For example:
* In Australia, a ...
with recreational features located in the towns of
Monroe and
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 ...
. A small portion of the borders
the state of Vermont. The forest is managed by the
Department of Conservation and Recreation
The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. The DCR's mission is ...
.
History
The majority of land was once farmland. 19th-century cellar holes and stone walls can be found throughout the area.
[ The state forest was established in 1924. Workers with the ]Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...
were active here in the 1930s. Their contributions included the construction of the Raycroft Lookout, a stone platform offering dramatic vistas of the Deerfield River
Deerfield River is a river that runs for from southern Vermont through northwestern Massachusetts to the Connecticut River. The Deerfield River was historically influential in the settlement of western Franklin County, Massachusetts, and its n ...
.
Natural features
The forest's rugged terrain of steep mountains and deep valleys include Spruce Mountain as well as Dunbar Brook, which drops 700 vertical feet in two miles, cascading over boulders and forming countless waterfalls, rapids and pools.[
]
Old growth forest
Researchers have identified of old-growth forest
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, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...
sites in the park. Species represented include eastern hemlock
''Tsuga canadensis'', also known as eastern hemlock, eastern hemlock-spruce, or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as ''pruche du Canada'', is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It is the state tree of ...
, Eastern White Pine
''Pinus strobus'', commonly called the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine (British), and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland, Canada west through the Great Lakes ...
, red spruce
''Picea rubens'', commonly known as red spruce, is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec and Nova Scotia, west to the Adirondack Mountains and south through New England along the Appalachians to western ...
, and hardwood
Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...
s such as yellow birch
''Betula alleghaniensis'', the yellow birch, golden birch, or swamp birch, is a large tree and an important lumber species of birch native to northeastern North America. Its vernacular names refer to the golden color of the tree's bark. In the pa ...
, sweet birch
''Betula lenta'' (sweet birch, also known as black birch, cherry birch, mahogany birch, or spice birch) is a species of birch native to eastern North America, from southern Maine west to southernmost Ontario, and south in the Appalachian Mounta ...
, American beech
''Fagus grandifolia'', the American beech or North American beech, is a species of beech tree native to the eastern United States and extreme southeast of Canada.
Description
''Fagus grandifolia'' is a large deciduous tree growing to tall, w ...
, American basswood
''Tilia americana'' is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Oklahoma, southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to ...
, and white ash.[See the ]list of old growth forests in Massachusetts
The following is a list of old-growth forests in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Old growth is defined as those forests that have not been logged (and have not been significantly disturbed by human beings) in the last 150 years. "Virgin forests" ...
for specific locations.
Activities and amenities
The forest has trails for hiking, horseback riding and cross-country skiing. Fishing and restricted hunting are permitted.[ Scenic views of the ]Hoosac Range The Hoosac Range is a mountain range that forms the western edge of the northwest Berkshire Plateau of western Massachusetts, an extension of the southern Green Mountains of Vermont, which are part of the greater Appalachian Mountain chain. The mo ...
, Green Mountains
The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont. The range runs primarily south to north and extends approximately from the border with Massachusetts to the border with Quebec, Canada. The part of the same range that is in ...
and Deerfield River can be found at the Raycroft Lookout, a stone platform reached by ascending a steep path.[
]
References
External links
Monroe State Forest
Department of Conservation and Recreation
Monroe State Forest Map
Department of Conservation and Recreation
{{Protected Areas of Massachusetts
Massachusetts state forests
Civilian Conservation Corps in Massachusetts
Parks in Franklin County, Massachusetts
Florida, Massachusetts
Protected areas established in 1924
Old-growth forests
1924 establishments in Massachusetts