Shimek State Forest in southeastern Iowa spans 9,148 acres in five units along the Des Moines River near its meeting with the Upper Mississippi, creating one of the state's largest remaining continuous forested areas. It is characterized by mixed oak-hickory woodland and about 1,000 acres of planted pine. The forest developed from exhausted and abandoned farmland, with early work done by the Civilian Conservation Corps, and in 1950 it was named for Bohumil Shimek, a Czech-American naturalist, conservationist, and State University of Iowa professor. The Croton unit also stands near the site of the Battle of Athens, linking the forest to local Civil War history.