Elk Neck State Forest belongs to the

Maryland Department of Natural Resources The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is a government agency in the state of Maryland charged with maintaining natural resources including state parks, public lands, state forests, state waterways, wildlife, and recreation areas. I ...

and is managed by the Maryland Forest Service, and is adjacent to the town of

North East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

, in

Cecil County Cecil County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland at the northeastern corner of the state, bordering both Pennsylvania and Delaware. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 103,725. The county seat is Elkton. The ...

. It is often confused with Elk Neck State Park, which lies further south, near the end of the same peninsula. The main entrance to the

state forest A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by a sovereign state, sovereign or federated state, or territory (country subdivision), territory. Background State forests are forests that are Administration (gov ...

(with a parking lot and office) runs north off of Irishtown Road. Other entrances, blocked by gates (to deter vehicles), are located on Huminski Road and Starkey Lane. Visitors to the state forest who are not using the shooting-ranges can park for free. Users of the shooting-ranges need to acquire permits under a self-service honor-system. This nature area, consisting of , provides hiking trails, hunting opportunities (during legally established hunting seasons), and ranges for

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

and for handgun- and rifle-shooting. A portion of the Mason-Dixon Trail runs through this state forest. Although there i
a reduced-size area-map of the state forest
online
a larger, more detailed map (including Elk Neck State Park)
can be purchased from the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources. Elk Neck State Forest is part of the

Northeastern coastal forests The Northeastern coastal forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of the northeast and middle Atlantic region of the United States. The ecoregion covers an area of 34,630 sq miles (89,691 km2) encompassing the Piedmont ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

. It contains wooded flatland, rolling hills, and marshlands. Plum Creek and Plum Creek Pond form an important water-feature in the south-central area. The primary, wide, gravel roads within the state forest—labeled as Trails 1, 2, and 3 -- allow limited vehicle traffic (starting from the main entrance, where Trail 1 begins). These forest roads are flanked by thick woods (mixed deciduous trees and evergreens) and provide entrances (for hikers) into some forest-trails. There are small parking areas along these roads, as well as several marked small meadows with blind hunting structures, including one for handicapped hunters. The northwestern corner of Trail 1, in particular, is the location of the shooting ranges.

References

Sources

Elk Neck State Forest
Maryland state forests Protected areas of Cecil County, Maryland {{Maryland-protected-area-stub