Welaka State Forest

Welaka State Forest is located along the east bank of the historic St. Johns River. The Florida Forest Service maintains the integrity of the forest’s natural systems while allowing limited outdoor recreation use and environmental education. In 1935, under the Federal Resettlement Administration, the United States government started the Welaka Forestry and Wildlife Conservation Project on a state of Florida fish hatchery site. The Welaka property was later transferred to the University of Florida as the “University of Florida Conservation Reserve, Welaka” for the study of forestry and wildlife. In 1992 the lease was transferred from the University of Florida to the Florida Forest Service to manage as a State Forest.

Natural Features
Welaka State Forest has over 4 miles of river frontage along the east bank of Little Lake George on the St. Johns River, although most of it is swampy and inaccessible. With the Ocala National Forest on one side and Welaka State Forest on the other, this is one of the best-preserved natural sections of the St. Johns River. Large cypress and pine trees provide numerous eagle nest sites on both sides of the river.

Natural communities on Welaka State Forest include river swamps, pine flatwoods, sandhills and flatwoods lakes. Mud Spring empties 13,750 gallons per hour of clear spring water into a half-mile spring run that flows into the St. John’s River. The east side of the forest features sandhills and open pine savannas dominated by longleaf pines and wiregrass. This is where the forest’s largest population of gopher tortoises and all their burrow-dependent associates are found. As you move toward the river, the land becomes leveler, turning into flatwoods and adjacent wetlands. The swampiest natural communities are adjacent to the St. Johns River.

Fees
Day Pass for all State Forests: $2
Annual Pass for all State Forests: $45