Conecuh National Forest, National forest in southern Alabama, United States.
The Conecuh National Forest covers 83,000 acres along the Alabama–Florida line in Covington and Escambia counties. Its terrain is level to moderately sloping, with broad ridges, stream terraces and floodplains. The forest holds longleaf pine stands, hardwood bottomlands, pitcher plant bogs, cypress ponds and winding creeks, and the 20-mile Conecuh Trail runs through it.
Established on 17 July 1936, the Conecuh was clear-cut in the 1930s and then replanted with slash pine, which reduced nesting trees for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. The forest is now being converted back to native longleaf pine; as those trees mature, the woodpecker population should increase. Its headquarters are in Montgomery, with a ranger district office in Andalusia.
The name Conecuh is believed to come from Muskogee and to mean "land of cane"; the Conecuh Trail passes through canebrakes in several sections. The trail was built by the Youth Conservation Corps, which has extended it each year since 1976 through longleaf pine stands and hardwood bottomlands.
Two developed recreation areas lie along Alabama State Road 137 north of Wing: Open Pond, about eight miles north of the Florida line, and Blue Lake, about nine miles north. Open Pond has 75 first-come, first-served campsites in four paved loops; A Loop is for tents, C and D loops have water and electric hookups, and B Loop is a group field. No swimming is allowed at Open Pond; boats may use only non-motorized or electric motors, and an Alabama fishing license is required.
The Open Pond Fire Tower, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1938 and 1939, is listed as U.S. Tower #97 on the National Historic Lookout Register; it is one of two such towers in the forest. The 1938 log-and-stone picnic shelter at Open Pond carries a plaque naming its CCC builders.
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