Apalachicola National Forest

Apalachicola National Forest
IUCN category VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources)


Location	Florida, USA
Nearest city	Tallahassee, FL
Coordinates	30°14′10″N 84°39′56″W / 30.23611°N 84.66556°W / 30.23611; -84.66556Coordinates: 30°14′10″N 84°39′56″W / 30.23611°N 84.66556°W / 30.23611; -84.66556
Area	632,890 acres (256,120 ha)^[1]
Created	May 13, 1936 (May 13, 1936)
Governing body	U.S. Forest Service
Website	Apalachicola National Forest

The Apalachicola National Forest is the largest U.S. National Forest in the state of Florida. It encompasses 632,890 acres (988.89 sq mi; 2,561.2 km²)^[1] and is the only national forest located in the Florida Panhandle. 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 ATV usage.^[2]

Apalachicola National Forest contains two Wilderness Areas: Bradwell Bay Wilderness and Mud Swamp/New River Wilderness. There are also several special purpose areas: Camel Lake Recreation Area, Fort Gadsden Historical Site, Leon Sinks Geological Area, 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, Wakulla, Leon, and Franklin counties. The forest is headquartered in Tallahassee, as are all three National Forests in Florida, but there are local Forest ranger district offices located in Bristol and Crawfordville.

Hunting and fishing

Hunting and fishing are monitored and governed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (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 weekend and ends in January.^[3]

Environment

The Apalachicola National Forest is in the southeastern conifer forests ecoregion. Areas of the national forest with dry, sandy soils support Florida longleaf pine sandhills and east Gulf coastal plain near-coast pine flatwoods. Sandhills are woodlands dominated by longleaf pine (Pinus palustris). Pine flatwoods are forests and woodlands on broad, sandy flatlands. Both of these pine communities are sustained by frequent fires.^[4]

Near the floodplains of spring-fed rivers grow southern coastal plain hydric hammocks, dense forests of evergreen and deciduous hardwood trees. Blackwater rivers support southern coastal plain blackwater river floodplain forests of baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) along their banks. Major rivers support diverse east Gulf coastal plain large river floodplain forests.^[4]

The National Forest is also home to several wetland plant communities. Southern coastal plain nonriverine basin swamps are large, seasonally flooded depressions of baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) and swamp tupelo (Nyssa biflora). 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 domes are small wetlands of pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens) notable for their dome-shaped appearance.^[4]

The Forest contains thousands of acres of old growth Pond Cypress swamps (cypress domes). In addition, Bradwell Bay Wilderness contains about 100 acres (40 ha) of old-growth Slash Pine - Swamp Tupelo swamps.^[5]

Gallery

Hunters listening for the direction of dogs following the scent of a white tail deer
An artificial pond off of FH-111
Silver Lake Recreation Area, a part of the Apalachicola National Forest, about 8 miles (13 km) from Tallahassee, Florida, in 2007
Trout Pond Recreation Area, a part of the Apalachicola National Forest, about 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Tallahassee
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
An unimproved road in the Wildlife Management Area off of Hwy. 67

References

1 2 "Land Areas of the National Forest System" (PDF). U.S. Forest Service.
↑ http://www.stateparks.com/apalachicola.html
↑ Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
1 2 3 "Land Cover Viewer - Map". National Gap Analysis Program. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
↑ Mary Byrd Davis (23 January 2008). "Old Growth in the East: A Survey. Florida" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-12-31.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Apalachicola National Forest.

Apalachicola National Forest travel guide from Wikivoyage
Apalachicola National Forest official site at United States Forest Service
The Florida Trail in the Apalachicola National Forest
Field Guide to Flora in Apalachicola National Forest

Protected areas of Florida

Federal

National Parks	Biscayne Dry Tortugas Everglades

National Memorials	De Soto Fort Caroline

National Monuments	Castillo de San Marcos Fort Matanzas

National Seashores	Canaveral Gulf Islands

National Forests	Apalachicola Choctawhatchee Ocala Osceola

National Wildlife Refuges	Archie Carr Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee Caloosahatchee Cedar Keys Chassahowitzka Crocodile Lake Crystal River Egmont Key Florida Panther Great White Heron Hobe Sound Island Bay J.N. 'Ding' Darling Key West Lake Wales Ridge Lake Woodruff Lower Suwannee Matlacha Pass Merritt Island National Key Deer Okefenokee Passage Key Pelican Island Pine Island Pinellas St. Johns St. Marks St. Vincent Ten Thousand Islands

Other National Protected Areas	Big Cypress National Preserve Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve

National Estuarine Research Reserves and National Marine Sanctuaries	Apalachicola NERR Florida Keys NMS Guana Tolomato Matanzas NERR Rookery Bay NERR

State

Parks	Amelia Island Anastasia Avalon Bahia Honda Bald Point Big Lagoon Big Shoals Big Talbot Island Bill Baggs Cape Florida Bulow Creek Caladesi Island Camp Helen Cayo Costa Collier-Seminole Colt Creek Curry Hammock Delnor-Wiggins Pass Devil's Millhopper Don Pedro Island Eden Gardens Egmont Key Falling Waters Faver-Dykes Florida Caverns Fort Clinch Fort Cooper Fort George Island Fort Pierce Inlet Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou Gasparilla Island George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier Grayton Beach Henderson Beach Highlands Hammock Honeymoon Island Hontoon Island Hugh Taylor Birch John D. MacArthur Beach John Pennekamp Coral Reef John U. Lloyd Beach Jonathan Dickinson Little Talbot Island Long Key Lovers Key Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway Mike Roess Gold Head Branch North Peninsula O'Leno Oscar Scherer Perdido Key Sebastian Inlet Skyway Fishing Pier St. Andrews St. George Island St. Joseph Peninsula Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center Stump Pass Beach Tomoka Torreya Windley Key Fossil Reef

Botanical Garden Parks	Alfred B. Maclay Gardens Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Lignumvitae Key Ravine Gardens Washington Oaks

Lakes, Rivers and Springs Parks	Deer Lake Lake Griffin Lake June in Winter Scrub Lake Kissimmee Lake Louisa Lake Manatee Lake Talquin Alafia River Blackwater River Dunns Creek Econfina River Hillsborough River Little Manatee River Myakka River Ochlockonee River Oleta River Suwannee River Blue Spring De Leon Springs Edward Ball Wakulla Springs Fanning Springs Homosassa Springs Wildlife Ichetucknee Springs Lafayette Blue Springs Madison Blue Spring Manatee Springs Ponce de Leon Springs Rainbow Springs Silver Springs Three Rivers Troy Springs Weeki Wachee Springs Wekiwa Springs Werner-Boyce Salt Springs Wes Skiles Peacock Springs

Recreation Areas	Gamble Rogers Memorial

Museums, Historic sites, and Archaeological sites	Cedar Key Museum Constitution Convention Museum Forest Capital Museum John Gorrie Museum Ybor City Museum The Barnacle Bulow Plantation Ruins Dade Battlefield Dudley Farm Fort Foster Fort Mose Fort Zachary Taylor Gamble Plantation Indian Key Koreshan Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Homestead Natural Bridge Battlefield Olustee Battlefield Orman House Paynes Creek San Marcos de Apalache Yellow Bluff Fort Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Crystal River Lake Jackson Mounds Letchworth-Love Mounds Madira Bickel Mound Mound Key San Pedro Underwater

Preserves and Reserves	Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Anclote Key Cedar Key Scrub Charlotte Harbor Crystal River Estero Bay Fakahatchee Strand Kissimmee Prairie Lower Wekiva River Paynes Prairie Pumpkin Hill Creek River Rise Rock Springs Run San Felasco Hammock Savannas Seabranch St. Lucie Inlet St. Sebastian River Tarkiln Bayou Topsail Hill Waccasassa Bay Yellow River Marsh

State Trails	Blackwater Heritage Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Gainesville-Hawthorne General James A. Van Fleet Nature Coast Palatka-Lake Butler Palatka-to-St. Augustine Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad Withlacoochee

State Forests	Belmore Big Shoals Blackwater River Carl Duval Moore Cary Charles H. Bronson Cottage Hill Deep Creek Etoniah Creek Four Creeks Goethe Holopaw Indian Lake Jennings John M. Bethea Lake George Lake Talquin Lake Wales Ridge Little Big Econ Matanzas Myakka Okaloacoochee Slough Picayune Strand Pine Log Point Washington Ralph E. Simmons Memorial Ross Prairie Seminole Tate's Hell Tiger Bay Twin Rivers Wakulla Watson Island Welaka Withlacoochee

Other

Nature centers	List of nature centers in Florida

Florida Department of Environmental Protection

National Forests of the United States

Allegheny Angeles Angelina Apache-Sitgreaves Apalachicola Arapaho Ashley Beaverhead-Deerlodge Bienville Bighorn Bitterroot Black Hills Boise Bridger-Teton Caribou-Targhee Carson Chattahoochee-Oconee Chequamegon-Nicolet Cherokee Chippewa Choctawhatchee Chugach Cibola Clearwater Cleveland Coeur d'Alene Coconino Colville Conecuh Coronado Croatan Custer Daniel Boone Davy Crockett De Soto Delta Deschutes Dixie Eldorado Finger Lakes Fishlake Flathead Francis Marion Fremont–Winema Gallatin George Washington and Jefferson Gifford Pinchot Gila Grand Mesa Green Mountain Gunnison Helena Hiawatha Holly Springs Homochitto Hoosier Humboldt-Toiyabe Huron-Manistee Idaho Panhandle Inyo Kaibab Kaniksu Kisatchie Klamath Kootenai Lake Tahoe Basin Lassen Lewis and Clark Lincoln Lolo Los Padres Malheur Manti-La Sal Mark Twain Medicine Bow – Routt Mendocino Modoc Monongahela Mount Baker-Snoqualmie Mount Hood Nantahala Nebraska Nez Perce Ocala Osceola Ochoco Okanogan Olympic Ottawa Ouachita Ozark-St. Francis Payette Pike Pisgah Plumas Prescott Rio Grande Rogue River-Siskiyou Roosevelt San Bernardino San Isabel San Juan Sabine Salmon-Challis Sam Houston Samuel R. McKelvie Santa Fe Sawtooth Sequoia Shasta-Trinity Shawnee Shoshone Sierra Siuslaw Six Rivers St. Joe Stanislaus Sumter Superior Tahoe Tombigbee Tongass Tonto Talladega Tuskegee Uinta Umatilla Umpqua Uncompahgre Uwharrie Wallowa–Whitman Wasatch-Cache Wayne Wenatchee White Mountain White River Willamette William B. Bankhead

Full Detailed List

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