Native Americans bestowed upon the region its name, meaning "crooked waters." The tannic-tinted river that shares its name with today's 157,469-acre state forest borders the territory to the east, runs into the Gulf of Mexico in the north, and reaches the Green Swamp to the southeast. Thirteen miles of the 70-mile-long river flow through the preserved forestlands, along with two other Outstanding Florida Waters – Jumper Creek and Little Withlacoochee River.
The forest itself is scattered throughout Her-nando and Citrus counties in five sections, or tracts: Forest Headquarters, Citrus, Croom, Richloam, and Jumper Creek. Once the home of turn-of-the-century pioneers and site of boom-time phosphate mining, the tracts have since been developed for outdoor recreational opportunities, from bird watching to all-terrain cycling. Withlacoochee's vast reaches embrace a number of biological communities – low-lying sand to cypress swamps. The forest hosts creatures of rare and endangered status, including the bald eagle, Eastern indigo snake, black bear, and red-cockaded woodpecker. Alligators, wild boar, bobcats, rabbits, deer, and quail also find shelter. Declared by the World Wildlife Fund as one of the "10 Coolest Places You've Never Been in North America," it is also part of the Great Florida Birding Trail.
