Indian Lake State Forest

Indian Lake State Forest
Indian Lake State Forest signage
Location in Florida
Nearest city	Silver Springs, Florida
Coordinates	29°15′35″N 82°03′55″W / 29.25972°N 82.06528°W / 29.25972; -82.06528Coordinates: 29°15′35″N 82°03′55″W / 29.25972°N 82.06528°W / 29.25972; -82.06528
Area	4,462 acres
Website	Indian Lake State Forest

Indian Lake State Forest is approximately 4,466 acres of gently rolling sandhills and pastures just north of historic Silver Springs, Florida in Marion. This property was acquired in 2007 and 2008 under the Florida Forever program, with additional money from Marion County and help from The Nature Conservancy, Silver Springs Working Group, and the Department of Environmental Protection.

Natural Features

In addition to sandhills dotted with sinkholes, natural community types found on the forest include depression marshes and mesic flatwoods. Driving down State Road 326 you can see a mix of longleaf pines, sand post oaks and turkey oaks in some of the nicer sandhills on this land. A mix of wildflower color and wiregrass is also visible here, especially the fall after a prescribed fire. A visitor might see gopher tortoises, fox squirrels, kestrels or turkeys. Another feature is Indian Lake, the deep sinkhole lake that is located east of Baseline Road and drains Indian Lake Prairie.

Scientific studies traced out the areas of water recharge that feed Silver Springs. These areas include the land now known as Indian Lake State Forest. As a result of the studies, Indian Lake State Forest was purchased under the Florida Forever springs initiative. Rolling sandhills on a sinkhole-rich karst topography dominate the property, although most of the sandhills have been converted to till agriculture or improved pasture.

The land uses prior to acquisition have allowed exotic plant invasion, and exotic plants have replaced or displaced historic vegetation in many areas. One of the main goals of the Florida Forever purchase was to restore these altered areas and eliminate any adverse impacts these alterations might have had on the Silver Springs system for water flow and water quality. Planting longleaf pine seedlings is an important step to meet this goal. When you drive down Baseline Road, you can see some of the recently planted longleaf pine seedlings starting to pop out of the grass stage and grow into a young forest.

Since the acquisition of Indian Lake State Forest, the Florida Forest Service has built trailheads, posted boundaries, installed gates, controlled exotic plants, planted longleaf pine seedlings, and implemented a prescribed burning program. State forest managers use prescribed burning to mimic the natural occurrence of fire. Periodic fire is necessary to maintain the forest's unique plant and animal diversity.

Recreation

Recreational opportunities in the forest include hiking, bird-watching and horseback riding. The main trailhead and parking area for the Bear-N-Oak hiking trail are located 2.1 miles north of the stoplight at the intersection of State Road 326 and County Road 35 (also known as Baseline Road) on the east side of County Road 35.

There are 11 miles of designated horse trails. The Indian Lake Equestrian Trailhead is located 1.5 miles north of the stoplight at the intersection of State Road 326 and County Road 35 (Baseline Road).

References

External links

Indian Lake State Forest - official site

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

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.

Indian Lake State Forest

Natural Features

Recreation

See also

References

External links