The WSFR owns or manages 26,851 acres of land. This land has been acquired through gifts from individuals or companies desiring to support forest education and research, or from agriculture experiment station land passed to the School for management and conservation.

The School’s land is used for research, demonstration and instruction:

Whitehall Forest — This 740-acre forest located in Clarke County is the closest forest to the University. It includes areas used by the USDA Forest Service, and for research in silviculture, forest biology, wildlife, fisheries, entomology, genetics, wood utilization, and hydrology. It also is commonly used for instruction.

Watson Springs Forest — Approximately 50% of this 607-acre forest in Greene County has been designated for teaching and research including silviculture, entomology, and genetics. Use of the remaining area is limited by cultural, physiographic and other features.

B. F. Grant Forest — This is a 12,542-acre forest located in Putnam and Morgan counties. Approximately 4% of the forest area has been designated for research projects that include recreation, wildlife, silviculture, and hydrology. A cooperative agreement exists between the WSFR and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to govern use of portions of the forest for managed hunts for deer, turkey and quail. Areas for potential research projects exist on approximately 60% of the remaining area.

W. B. J. Hardman Memorial Park — A 462-acre forest in Jackson County, Hardman Memorial Park is designated as a field laboratory in forest management and silviculture, and for research in silviculture and entomology.

Cohutta Fish Hatchery — This hatchery, on 64 acres in Whitfield County, was granted to the University of Georgia by the US Department of the Interior. The property consists of approximately 64 acres in northwest Georgia, with about 50 acres in ponds. The facility is used extensively for aquaculture research and extension.

Thompson Mill Forest — Located in Jackson County, this 318-acre area is a teaching and research arboretum. Plantings include regional provenance tests of black locust and more than 170 tree species, representing about 80% of the native trees of Georgia. There are more than three miles of established trails, and more than 200 species of trees, shrubs, vines, and herbaceous plants which can be observed and studied along them. The arboretum is used frequently by dendrology classes and individual students, and because of its easy access from Atlanta, its facilities are frequently used by civic groups.

Satilla River Site — This 1,517-acre forest in Camden County was given to the State Board of Regents in 1978. Plans are being made for use of the area for research in fisheries, wildlife, ecology and recreation.

Nat D. Arnold Memorial Forest — Almost the entire area of this 46-acre forest in Clarke and Oconee counties has been designated for student activities, recreational, and conference use.

Oconee Forest Park — Designated for use as an area for field trips in dendrology, silviculture, entomology and pathology, its use for research is very limited. Adjacent to the University, approximately 50% of its 116 acres has been developed as a recreational area for use by the University community.

Charles Wheatley Forest — A 2,500-acre forest in Lee and Sumter counties along Lake Blackshear used for a variety of research and teaching purposes.

Dorothy Warnell Research, Education and Demonstration Forest — Consisting of 1,850 acres in Effingham County, this forest is operated for nature education for local schools and groups as well as other teaching and research purposes.

Another tract, separated from the Oconee Forest Park by the Athens Perimeter Highway, comprises about 45 acres in a narrow strip along the North Oconee River. This area has not been officially designated for a specific use. Students have used it for recreation planning exercises and dendrology laboratories. It may be designated as part of the Oconee Rivers Greenway.

Other Forest Lands Offering Research Opportunities

Faculty and students cooperate with institutions or agencies on whose lands research can also be conducted. Such agencies include the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory near Aiken, SC; the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center near Albany, GA; the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory near Franklin, NC; the Chattahoochee and Oconee National Forests; military reservations, such as Fort Benning and Fort Stewart; various wildlife reserves and protected areas, including Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness Area; and various forest industry properties.