Uwharrie National Forest in south-central North Carolina covers 50,645 acres, making it the smallest of the state’s four national forests. Centered in the ancient Uwharrie Mountains, it spans mainly Montgomery County and extends into Randolph and Davidson counties, with the Yadkin-Pee Dee River along much of its western edge. First purchased by the federal government in 1931 as the Uwharrie Reservation, it became a national forest in the early 1960s. Its pine and oak woodlands include the Birkhead Mountains Wilderness, and the area is known for recreation, a long history of gold discovery and panning, and use in the U.S. Army Special Warfare School’s ROBIN SAGE exercise.