Bear Swamp

This state forest is part of the New York reforestation lands. The peak of farm settlement was around the Civil War era, and slowly declined until the Great Depression of 1929, which hastened farm abandonment. Most of the State Forest was abandoned farmland bought in the 1930s. The large amount of open land was planted with coniferous trees - red pine, Norway spruce, and larch. Thus the term "reforestation lands" was aptly applied to these state forests.