Encompassing 1.5 million acres of beautiful public land in 29 counties in Missouri, Mark Twain National Forest maintains a healthy, working forest and restores Missouri's natural communities.

The Forest is waiting, come explore!

Mark Twain National Forest has a wide range of popular recreation opportunities. The forest has over 750 miles of trails for hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, and motorized use. Sections of the Ozark Trail wind through the forest. More than 350 miles of perennial streams, suitable for floating canoeing and kayaking, meander through its canopied expanses. Our campgrounds offer visitors a variety of forest experiences, including semi-primitive and wilderness camping for solitude. 

Leading the way in restoring natural communities through collaboration

From 2012-2022, the forest will collaborate with partners to restore more than 100,000 acres near Doniphan, Winona, Van Buren and Poplar Bluff, Missouri, in a Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project (CFLRP).

2020 Forest Reflections:

Recreation uses of national forest system land are always popular; but in 2020 the pandemic brought visitors to Mark Twain National Forest at record levels.  The Forest supported national wildland firefighting activities during a record-shattering wildfire year.  Partnerships were strengthened, and new relationships with communities and partners were formed.  The Forest and its employees adapted to the challenges to continue a high level of service through it all.  To read more about these and other collaborative successes this past year, please view the 2020 Forest Reflections.

Recent News

• Host opportunities at Silver Mines, Council Bluff, and Marble Creek

  Release Date: Feb 24, 2021  

Features

Eliminating Invasive, Feral Swine

Mark Twain National Forest is fully committed to the eradication of feral swine in Missouri, and as a member of the Missouri Feral Hog Eradication Partnership, has issued a closure order to make interagency feral swine trapping efforts as effective as possible:  Learn more here.

Fire Information

Is your home and property prepared for a wildfire?  Visit Firewise.org’s Home and Landscape website to see what you need to do to make sure your home is as prepared as possible in case a wildfire occurs near you.  After the recent fire activity in Tennessee, we are all reminded that wildfire can strike anywhere, anytime.  Make sure you are FireWise!

Spotlights

Firewood Permits

Firewood permits may be purchased from your local ranger district office. For more information visit the Forest Products Page.

Forest Timber Sales

Timber sales now have a Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed. When you subscribe to the feed it will email you every time a new timber sale with a link to the sale.