Delaware has three state forests, one in each county, totaling more than . These natural resource areas are managed by the Delaware Department of Agriculture Forest Service. see also Delaware State Forests Blackbird State Forest Located north of Smyrna, Blackbird State Forest covers approximately on the border of New Castle/Kent counties. The ten tracts of Blackbird State Forest are open to the public for nature walks, hiking, jogging, and horseback riding all year. It features a 1/2-mile, wheelchair-accessible wildlife and nature interpretation trail on the Tybout Tract and the Blackbird Education Center on the Meadows Tract. Long-range management plans for Blackbird State Forest outline goals for timber production, wildlife habitat, recreation, soil and water protection, wetland and endangered species protection, and public education. Many educational programs are available at the Blackbird State Forest Education Center on the Meadows Tract. Complementing a center at Redden State Forest, the facility has two meeting spaces and interactive displays: The Life Cycle of a Forest, Tree Identification, Invasive Species, Urban/Community Forestry, and Wildland Firefighting. Visitors can see a diorama of a beaver pond, a working beehive, and exotic and native insects. Work has also begun on a new nature trail, demonstration saw mill, and arboretum. History of Blackbird State Forest As a state forest, Blackbird began with the 1941 acquisition of the Tybout Tract, purchased for $6,916.20 when land prices in New Castle County presented a rare opportunity for the Forestry Department. 1941’s Annual Report of the Forestry Department stated: “For many years there has been a marked public concern over the failure of the Department to acquire State Forest lands in New Castle County but with only income funds at the disposal of the Department for acquisition purposes it has been expedient to spend those funds where the greatest acreage could be acquired per dollar expended. However, with the offer of a block of land in lower New Castle County at a figure comparable to similar lands in Sussex County the handicap of price was removed and the department has succeeded in acquiring 672 acres. . . lying west of Blackbird in New Castle County.” Redden State Forest Redden State Forest contains 18 separate tracts covering over in Sussex County just north of Georgetown, the county seat. The modern Redden State Forest is the consolidation of several Sussex County forest tracts, including the Ellendale State Forest. The Ellendale State Forest Picnic Facility was