Natchez Trace State Forest

About Natchez Trace State Forest

It is located about 30 miles east of Jackson and is divided into 40,000 acres of forest with a total area of about 1.5 million acres. The forest is located on the north side of the Mississippi, about 40 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee.

It was established after the resettlement administration bought the land and converted it into a state forest in 1949, but poor agricultural practices misused it, leading to severe erosion and a deeply carved landscape. When the Tennessee Department of Agriculture and Forestry took over the land, the focus was on fighting fires and planting vegetation to prevent erosion.

The pine trees proved very satisfactory for this purpose despite the high production of waste.

Hundreds of hectares of pine plantations were planted at the beginning of the 20th century, totalling 1,000 hectares.

Today, 67% of the forest is hardwood and 30% is pine, and large areas were saved after severe thunderstorms destroyed them to varying degrees in 1999. Although the former arable land was planted, trees between 10 and 60 years old are still standing in the woods. Hardwood stocks older than 60 years are found on land that has never been cleared or abandoned for agriculture.

Hunting is the traditional use of the forest, but also hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, canoeing, horseback riding and other outdoor activities are among the recreational activities. The forest is bordered by the Mississippi, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Sierra Nevada Mountains.