Haye Forest, National forest in Meurthe-et-Moselle, France

The forêt de Haye is a large national forest in Meurthe-et-Moselle, France, covered mostly by broadleaf trees like oaks and beeches. Its ground is soft with fallen leaves, and the area includes wide paths for easy walking as well as narrow trails that wind through thicker bushes.

Lidar surveys show the site was largely farmland in the Gallo-Roman period before forest cover spread. From 1745 to 1760, corvée labourers from Nancy, Pont-à-Mousson, Vézelise and Lunéville filled two chasms near Les Baraques, raising the Nancy–Toul road by 48 metres. Around 1860 management shifted from coppice-with-standards to regular beech high forest for timber.

The name comes from silva Heis, first recorded in 960, an old form of the word for a hedge or enclosure. In the 19th century, local villages still held affouage rights, letting residents take firewood from the forest. The Parc de Haye leisure area at Velaine-en-Haye occupies the site of a former American military camp called Les Baraques.

The ground stays mostly firm, though parts can get muddy after rain, so sturdy shoes are useful. Benches and resting spots appear along the main paths, and there are parking areas near several entrances from nearby towns.

The forest is divided into exactly 500 state-owned parcels, numbered 1 in the north to 500 in the south, with about twenty parcels per neighbouring commune. Around 1860 management shifted from coppice-with-standards for firewood to regular beech high forest for timber. The 1999 Lothar storm felled 2,000 hectares of trees.