For more information, contact the Park Headquarters, 14265 U.S. Route 50, Bainbridge, OH 45612; or call (937) 365-1401.

East Fork Wildlife Area
East Fork Lake was constructed in 1978. Of the 9,906 acres licensed to the ODNR, 2,705 acres are managed by the ODOW as the East Fork Wildlife Area. The rest is managed as East Fork State Park. The park is south and west of the wildlife area on both sides of the lake.

The wildlife area is on the northeast edge of the lake southeast of Williamsburg in Clermont County. Access to the wildlife area is possible from roads off state Route 133 and Old State Route 32 west of Williamsburg. It is only about 16 miles from Cincinnati.

The area varies in both topography and character. Level upland-type habitat and meadows make up about 25 percent of the property; about 30 percent is in reverting fields featuring shrubs, small trees and grasses; and wooded hills and steep hillsides of beech, maple, red and white oak and hickory make up about 40 percent of the habitat.

For more information and maps of the area, contact the ODOW's District Five office in Xenia by calling (937) 372-9261.

East Fork State Park, one of the largest in the state, offers nearly 400 campsites, all with electrical hookups and other services.

For season dates and additional information, contact the Park Headquarters, 3294 Elklick Road, Bentel, OH 45106; or call (513) 734-4323.

DISTRICT FOUR
Waterloo Wildlife Area/Zaleski State Forest
Land purchases for this area started in 1944. Prior to that, parts of the area were cultivated and used for grazing, and the woodlands were extensively cut. Since the state took ownership, the fields have been allowed to revert back to woodlands, and today the area is heavily wooded with oak and hickory on the ridges and ridgetops and scattered stands of beech and maple in the bottoms. Hunters will also find several small openings, particularly on the ridgetops. The larger reverting fields will be found along Hewett Fork, which parallels the eastern edge of the wildlife area.

The wildlife area is about 10 miles west of Athens at the junction of state routes 56 and 356.

For more information, contact the Waterloo Wildlife Research Station, 9650 State Route 356, New Marshfield, OH 45766; or call (740) 664-2745.

Over 660 acres of this area are managed as a walk-in wild turkey management area, designed to provide a minimum of 60 percent trees of mast-producing size and limited access.

This turkey management area covers over 5,140 acres, with the rest within Zaleski State Forest, the second-largest state forest in Ohio, covering 28,000 acres.

There is also a Grouse Management Area within the WMA, and both areas are open to hunting. Hunting is prohibited within 400 feet of any building, facility or recreation area. Camping is allowed in designated areas only.

The Atkinson Ridge Hunters Camp is on the north end of township Road 5 in the Grouse Management Area. The campground offers latrines, picnic tables and fire rings. Sites are available on a first-come/first-served basis. It opens one day before the start of the squirrel season (Aug. 31) and ends one day after the close of the grouse season in March.

For more information on the forest, contact Zaleski State Forest, Zaleski, OH 45698; or call (740) 596-5781.

For more information on hunting opportunities during Ohio's deer-gun season, contact the Ohio Division of Wildlife, 2045 Morse Road, Bldg. G, Columbus, OH 43229; call (800) 945-3543 or (614) 265-6300; or visit the agency's Web site at www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife.