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33-576: The Juniper Prairie Wilderness is a protected wilderness area in the Ocala National Forest in Florida , United States. The Juniper Prairie Wilderness was established in 1984 and covers an area of about 54 square kilometers (13,260  acres ). It protects a diverse set of habitats including prairie , Longleaf and Sand Pine scrub , marshes , subtropical palm jungles, swamp hardwoods, as well as sawgrass . It also forms

66-457: A Dr. Lisk who built a house near the point. Steamboats coming down from Jacksonville made a counter clockwise loop around the lake with their first stop at Lisk Point. Lake George is the second largest lake in Florida, after Lake Okeechobee . Lake George was the third largest lake behind Lake Apopka , but conversion of the littoral zone on the northern side of Lake Apopka to farm fields in

99-581: A challenging 22-mile (35 km) long ride on the Paisley Woods Bicycle Trail. Because this trail is not paved, bicycles need to be suited for rough terrain. Mountain bikes are ideal and encouraged for this environment. The Ocala National Forest offers many locations to ride Off-Road Vehicles. Currently, two trail systems offer a variety of recreation experiences: (1) the Ocala North OHV Trail System offers

132-532: A dozen families. The inhabitants supported themselves through farming, hunting, fishing, and trade along the St. Johns River . Because of the poor economic conditions, most inhabitants had left the area before it became part of the Ocala National Forest in 1908. In 1935, the last inhabitants abandoned the area after a settlement history of less than 100 years. The author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings visited

165-1016: A high proportion of remaining inland scrub habitat and is noted for its sand pine scrub ecosystem. The forest contains the largest concentration of sand pine in the world as well as some of the best remaining stands of longleaf pine in northern Florida. Where fire is absent, southern coastal plain oak domes and hammocks can grow. These are small stands of thick evergreen oaks. The forest contains several slow-moving rivers and numerous wet "prairies". Blackwater rivers support southern coastal plain blackwater river floodplain forests of baldcypress ( Taxodium distichum ) along their banks. The forest's spring-fed rivers support southern coastal plain hydric hammocks , hammocks of evergreen and hardwood trees, near their floodplains. The prairies are Floridian highlands freshwater marshes . Southern coastal plain nonriverine basin swamps are large, seasonally flooded depressions of baldcypress ( Taxodium distichum ) and swamp tupelo ( Nyssa biflora ). The Big Scrub (earlier called

198-568: A longer experience with six distinct trail loops totaling 125 miles (201 km) and (2) the Wandering Wiregrass OHV Trail in the Southeast portion of the forest offers shorter day-use riding with a trail length of 17 miles (27 km). A new trail system was added in 2008 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the forest. It is part of the south trail system off FR 573.. A small trail 20 miles (32 km) long called

231-552: A sea of high pine. The shrub layer of the Big Scrub generally consists of several evergreen oaks and other woody shrubs, some of which are not commonly found elsewhere in Florida scrub patches. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings lived much of her adult life just a few miles north of the Big Scrub in Cross Creek, Florida . She reported that the only inhabitants of the area lived in hammocks along streams or next to lakes, but not in

264-464: A summer canoe trip down a palm-lined stream is a cool way to spend an August day. The temperatures for the dry months of November through February range from a daily average of 50  °F (10  °C ) to a high of 72 °F (22 °C). The summer season is much warmer and wetter. Short afternoon thundershowers often raise the humidity to about 90% while the temperatures range from 80 °F (27 °C) to 95 °F (35 °C). The average rainfall

297-589: Is approximately 55 inches (1,400 mm) per year. Water plays an important part in a variety of recreational opportunities in the forest. Activities range from canoeing, boating, fishing, skiing, snorkeling, scuba diving, swimming, and the use of personal watercraft. Several boat ramps are available in the forest. Many hiking trails run through the forest including the Florida Trail , Salt Springs Observation Trail, Lake Eaton Sinkhole Trail, St. Francis Trail, and Yearling Trail. Bicyclists can travel along

330-528: Is located at the center of the National Forest Forest Road 11, north of S.R. 40 in the Ocala National Forest. GPS Coordinates: 29°11’16.80” N 81°46’14.15” W 12-position 100-yard rifle/handgun shooting range One single-station, self-throw shotgun pad Cost: Free Open daily from sunrise to sunset, except on Wednesday when closed until noon for maintenance. Closed sunset to sunrise, and Wednesday mornings until noon. This unsupervised facility in

363-482: Is located in parts of Marion , Lake , and Putnam counties. The Ocala Forest is also known for having over 600 natural lakes and ponds . Between the river boundaries of this Forest lie central highlands, coastal lowlands, swamps , springs , and hundreds of lakes and ponds. Near the Juniper Prairie Wilderness and Juniper Springs is "The Yearling Trail", the location where The Yearling

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396-404: Is used on all other targets. Pinecastle targets have also been certified for laser operations. The Navy has used the area for target practice for 50 years under a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service . The ghost town of Kerr City is in the forest. It is located on County Road 316 just west of State Road 19 . The Ocala National Forest is in the southeastern conifer forests and

429-405: The Florida scrub ecoregions . Dry, sandy areas support Florida longleaf pine sandhills (also called "high pine") and Florida scrub. Longleaf pine sandhills are woodlands dominated by longleaf pine . Florida scrub consists of a more or less dense shrub layer often with a tree canopy of sand pines . Both of these pine communities are sustained by frequent fires. The Ocala National Forest contains

462-495: The National Wilderness Preservation System . Lake George (Florida) Lake George or Lake Welaka is a broad and shallow brackish lake on the St. Johns River in the U.S. state of Florida . The St. Johns River flows out of the lake at the north end at Rocky Point. To the west of this is Salt Cove, taking the flow from Salt Creek. Just south of Salt Cove is Lisk Point, named for

495-635: The Ocklawaha River Basin. The United States Navy 's Pinecastle Bombing Range in the Ocala National Forest is the only place on the East Coast where the Navy can do live impact training. The Navy drops nearly 20,000 bombs a year at the site, a few hundred of which are live. The Pinecastle Bombing Range is a fenced 5,760 acres (23.3 km ) area, with the eastern edge of the range located about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of State Road 19 and

528-673: The barking frog , bullfrog , coachwhip , corn snake , brown and banded watersnakes , common snapping turtle , eastern coralsnakes , diamondback rattlesnakes , fence lizards , musk turtles , spadefoot toads and ratsnakes , Florida cottonmouths , Florida crowned snake , redbelly turtles , scrub lizards and softshell turtles , garter snakes , green anole (as well as the invasive brown anole ), little brown skink , North American green treefrogs and racers , oak toads , peninsula cooter , pig frogs , pine snakes , pine woods tree frogs , pond sliders , pygmy rattlesnakes , ribbon snakes , ring-necked snakes , rough green snakes ,

561-592: The drainage basin for the Juniper River. The headwaters of the Juniper River, Juniper Springs , is a first magnitude artesian aquifer , and is bounded within a national forest. In the 1840s, Patrick Smith settled in the Juniper Prairie Wilderness in an area which became known as "Pats Island". Reuben Long and his family homesteaded in the area in 1872. Around the turn of the 20th century, human population on Pats Island peaked with about

594-459: The scarletsnake , six-lined racerunner , squirrel treefrogs , and southern five-lined skinks , southern leopard frogs and southern toads . An introduced population of Asian Rhesus macaques , originally a tourist attraction at Silver Springs State Park , have also ranged into the region and are occasionally seen. The Ocala National Forest has an accommodating climate for year-round recreation. The mild winters are fine for family camping while

627-530: The Camp Ocala campgrounds, and one-half mile (800 m) west of the Farles Lake campground. F/A-18 Hornet jet fighters and other aircraft take off from Naval Air Station Jacksonville or from aircraft carriers off the Florida coast, fly low over the forest, and drop their bombs in the middle 450 acres (1.8 km ) of the range. P-3 Orion and P-8 Poseidon aircraft will also use an instrumented range in

660-544: The Etonia scrub) is a large area of Florida scrub, about 40 miles (64 km) long and 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 km) wide, including about 200,000 acres (312 sq mi; 809 km ) of scrub habitat, out of the 366,037 acres (572 sq mi; 1,481 km ) in the national forest. It has been described as a sea of scrub with islands of high pine ( Florida longleaf pine sandhill ), while elsewhere in Florida patches of scrub have been described as islands occurring in

693-527: The Navy built bomb targets in Lake George and nearby Crescent Lake, and stationed personnel in the area to maintain the targets and perform search and rescue operations for downed pilots. Today, the range is under the operational control of nearby Naval Air Station Jacksonville . The lake also hosts a wide variety of wildlife ranging from migratory water birds and alligators to a number of normally marine animals. Local springs in Lake George (and throughout

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726-492: The Ocala National Forest offers a rifle and handgun range, and a single-station, self-throw shotgun pad. It was built with the cooperation of the U.S. Forest Service with funding provided by the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program (WSFR). The following is a list of lakes in or on the border of the forest: There are four officially designated wilderness areas lying within Ocala National Forest that are part of

759-679: The Scrubjay and a longer trail 42 miles (68 km) long called the Centennial may be accessed from trailheads off FR 573. SR 40 , and the Big Scrub Campground. Some areas are restricted to off-road vehicles; a detailed forest map can help provide information on areas open to off-road vehicles. There are many trails for horseback riding in the forest. Forest riding trails are old roads 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 m) wide, marked at intervals with painted spots – called blazes – on

792-470: The St. Johns River in 1765. It was John Bartram who gave the lake the name Lake George, in honor of his king. In more recent years, Lake George has been home to an operational U.S. military bombing and aerial mining range. The range is affiliated with the U.S. Navy 's Pinecastle Bombing Range located in the Ocala National Forest just west of Lake George. The bombing ranges date back to World War II , when

825-558: The fastest spreading wildfire in the history of the United States Forest Service . The fire consumed 35,000 acres (55 sq mi; 140 km ) in four hours, spreading at 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h). The Forest Service now conducts periodic burns in the Big Scrub after sand pines have been harvested from an area. Ocala has a wide variety of wildlife. The Florida black bear population has its highest concentration here, and West Indian manatees frequent

858-583: The inland waterways. Alligators , boar , bobcat , coyote , and white-tailed deer are all common. There are also numerous smaller animals, including (several types of) bats , eastern gray squirrels , gray fox , opossum , raccoon , red fox , nine-banded armadillo , river otter , striped skunks and southeastern pocket gophers . The sandy soil is home to the endangered gopher frog and gopher tortoise , whose extensive burrows provide important refuge for many other mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Herpetiles are abundant at Ocala, including species such as

891-664: The last two remaining inhabitants, Calvin and Mary Long in October 1933. She recorded the stories she was told on that occasion and other visits, which she worked into her novel The Yearling which was published in 1938 and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1939. A movie of the same name was made based on the novel in 1946. Ocala National Forest The Ocala National Forest lies between the Ocklawaha and St. Johns rivers in North Florida. In descending order of land area, it

924-718: The previous century reduced its surface area. The name of Lake Welaka is taken from "Welaka" (meaning "chain of lakes"), the name for the St. Johns River in Muskogee language of the Seminole . The first European to visit the lake was Pedro Menéndez de Avilés , who as the Spanish governor of Florida , explored the St. Johns River in the spring of 1596. Later, the Florida territory was sold to Britain . The royal botanist in America to King George III , John Bartram , explored

957-431: The scrub itself. Rawlings based some of her writings (including South Moon Under and The Yearling ) on the lives of the settlers around the Big Scrub after staying with families there. She described the Big Scrub in detail, stating that it was unique in the world. She wrote, "There is no human habitation—there never has been and probably never will be—in the scrub itself." She called the scrub "a vast wall, keeping out

990-490: The southeast quadrant of Lake George to conduct aerial mining training utilizing inert 500lb mines. All air-to-ground exercises using conventional ordnance up to and including 500 pounds (230 kg) MK 82 bombs and five-inch (127 mm) Zuni rockets are authorized. Napalm and High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) are prohibited. Live ordnance is restricted to the Live Ordnance Impact Area; inert ordnance

1023-400: The timid and the alien." Patrick D. Smith , in writing about Rawlings, stated about the Big Scrub, "In all of America there is not a more wild and hostile land." Periodic fires are necessary for the long term maintenance of Florida scrub. Fires in scrub are intense, killing sand pine trees and burning shrubs to the ground. A fire started by a lightning strike in the Big Scrub in 1935 became

Juniper Prairie Wilderness - Misplaced Pages Continue

1056-635: The trees. Some of the best trails include the One Hundred Mile trail and the LAM trail. The Ocala National Forest is a wildlife management area, in which hunting and fishing activities are managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. A permit is required for all hunters (except those indicated as exempt) to hunt in this area. A Quota Hunt Permit may also be required during certain periods or certain game. A public shooting range

1089-562: Was filmed. The Ocala National Forest receives more visitors than any other national forest in the Sunshine State. Millions visit the forest annually, which is one of North Florida's last-remaining traces of forested land. The forest’s porous sands, and largely undeveloped lands, provide an important recharge for the Floridan Aquifer . The Rodman Reservoir system forms most of the northern and northwestern border as part of

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