Conecuh National Forest
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Conecuh National Forest | |
|---|---|
| IUCN Category VI (Managed Resource Protected Area) | |
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| Location | Covington County and Escambia County, Alabama, USA |
| Nearest city | Andalusia, AL |
| Coordinates | |
| Area | 83,861 acres (340 km²) |
| Established | July 17, 1936 |
| Governing body | U.S. Forest Service |
The Conecuh National Forest in southern Alabama covers 83,000 acres (340 km²), along the Alabama - Florida line in Covington and Escambia counties. Topography is level to moderately sloping, broad ridges with stream terraces and broad floodplains.
The Conecuh Trail winds 20 miles (30 km) through Alabama's coastal plain. The trail was built by the Youth Conservation Corps. Each year, beginning in 1976, the young people of the Corps extend the trail through park-like longleaf pine stands, hardwood bottomlands, and other plant communities of the Conecuh National Forest.
The name Conecuh is believed to be of Muskogee origin. It means "land of cane," which is appropriate because the trail runs through canebrakes in several sections.
Situated just above the Florida panhandle, the forest has a distinct southern flavor of mist-laden hardwood swamps, pitcher plant bogs, and southern coastal plain pine forest. These hilly coastal plains are also home to longleaf pine, upland scrub oak, and dogwood, as well as an aquatic labyrinth of winding creeks and cypress ponds.
Clear-cut in the 1930s, the Conecuh was reforested with slash pine that reduced the number of nesting trees for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. The forest is currently undergoing a reforestation from slash pine to the native longleaf. In time, this should increase the number of red-cockaded woodpeckers as the trees mature.
The forest is headquartered in Montgomery, as are all four National Forests in Alabama (Conecuh, Talladega, Tuskegee, and William B. Bankhead). There are local ranger district offices located in Andalusia.
