Administrative Offices are located at Hocking State Forest 19275 S.R. 374 Rockbridge, Ohio 43149 740-385-4402 Directions to forest Total acres: 320 County: Athens County Brochure with map (pdf)

Public Recreational Areas near Gifford State Forest
Use ODNR's Recreational Areas by County Map to locate State Parks, Nature Preserves, Boating Areas, and public hunting and fishing areas near Gifford State Forest.

Gifford State Forest Notes
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry welcomes you to the heart of Ohio's hill country. Gifford State Forest is the smallest of Ohio's state forests, at 320 acres, but offers some very pleasant hunting and hiking opportunities in the scenic northern edge of Athens County.

This state forest was donated to the state in 1959 by William Gifford Selby under conditions that it be used for experimentation and research. It was named for his mother Virginia Gifford and her family.

Today, Gifford State Forest is managed by the Division of Forestry as a seed orchard facility. Trees planted here are genetically superior plants that produce superior seeds which are made readily available to the division's tree nurseries. In turn, the seedlings grown from these seeds are made available to the citizens of Ohio for reforestation on public and private lands.

Game animals such as deer, grouse and rabbit, as well as many non-game animals thrive in the area. Hunting these and other game animals is permitted on the forest in season. The forest is open to the public from 6 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

white pine cone beetle

Prescribed fire was used March 2001 to manage white pine cone beetle populations in two Gifford State Forest seed orchards
Two white pine plantations at Gifford State Forest (Athens County) were burned in March of 2001. These plantations, totaling about 8 acres, are used as seed orchards and have been burned several times since 1996 to protect seed crops from the white pine cone beetle. Beetle larvae, which spend the winter inside old cones on the ground, are killed by the fire before they mature into seed destroying adult beetles in the spring.

Prescribed fire is a proven method to control cone insects such as the white pine cone beetle. Low-intensity fire, which costs much less than traditional chemical control methods, is the most practical treatment currently available to manage this pest. Left unchecked, this pest can destroy the cone crop in white pine seed orchards.

Proper fuel and weather conditions are important to the effectiveness of this treatment. Temperatures over 75 degrees, relative humidity below 30%, or winds over 5 mph could result in the fire damaging the residual stand. Timing is also important to the success of this management practice. To insure that beetle larvae are successfully killed, the burn should occur in the early spring, before three consecutive 70-degree days.