Nature
Tate's Hell State Forest spans about 202,000 acres in the Florida Panhandle near Carrabelle, extending along the Gulf coast and onto St. James Island. A major hydrologic landscape, it includes part of the New River and watersheds feeding Apalachicola Bay, the Carrabelle River, and the Ochlockonee River. Its diverse habitats support rare plants and threatened wildlife, including gopher tortoises and red-cockaded woodpeckers. The forest's name comes from a local legend about homesteader Cebe Tate, who reportedly emerged after days lost in the woods in the mid-1870s. After decades of drainage, roadbuilding, and pine monoculture under private ownership, state acquisition in 1994 began long-term ecological restoration.
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