Jennings State Forest hosts awareness event

October is State Forest Awareness Month, and Jennings State Forest Officials hosted a Family Forest Awareness Day at the Old Jennings Recreation Area on Live Oak Lane.

Forest Supervisor Frank Burley said the state acquired the forest’s original tract in 1990 and since then, acquired additional acreage in 1991, 1993, 2001 and 2020.

“We’re a little over 25,000 acres in size: 25,301,” he said. “A majority of that is in Clay County, but there is a little in Duval County as well.”

Burley said hiking, horseback riding and kayaking are three of the most popular activities within the forest.

He added that a new 12-mile linear trail nearly completed and now open to the public, the Pioneer Trail, is, in his opinion, one of the best in the state.

“It’s very unique,” he said. “There is a lot of elevation gain and loss. There are 30-to-40-foot bluffs over Black Creek. There are some small waterfalls on it. There are switchbacks, where the trail goes back and forth to go up the side of a hill.”

Burley said the Pioneer Trail, which hikers can access from Longhorn Road near Clay Hill, is drawing hikers from across Florida.

He added that the forest has four put-in points into Black Creek for canoes and kayaks.

“What we recommend is from Knight’s Landing down,” he said of navigating the creek. “You can take it all the way from Powell Ford down into Middleburg and all the way out to the St. John’s, but the farther up you get, the narrower the creek becomes, and you are more susceptible to fluctuating water levels and blow downs (trees and branches blown into the creek).”

Burley said hunting and fishing are also popular within the forest.

“Right now, we’re in the muzzle-loading hunt season,” he said. “We have archery season, which was back in September. General gun starts in November, and then we also have turkey season and small game in the spring.”

Burley said another project on the drawing board for the forest is a mountain bike trail.

“I couldn’t tell you a completion date, but it’ll be a roughly 13-mile, single-track mountain bike trail that’s in the works,” he said.