Matanzas State Forest is a protected 4,699-acre tract in northeastern Florida near St. Augustine and closer to Crescent Beach. Its boundaries are marked in part by U.S. 1 to the west, State Road 206 to the north, the Matanzas River to the east, and Faver-Dykes State Park to the south. Owned by the Florida State Division of Forestry and co-managed with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the St. Johns River Water Management District, it occupies a distinctive place in the coastal landscape south of St. Augustine between inland roadways and the Matanzas River.