The forest is located in northern Klamath County near the community of Gilchrist and was officially dedicated on June 11, 2010.

Originally owned by the Gilchrist family and their logging company, the land in what became the state forest was sold to Crown Pacific Partners in 1991.

[2] Crown Pacific Partners struggled financially under a large debt load and filed for bankruptcy in June 2003.

[2] The $15 million deal was for land with young pine trees, and was designed in part to prevent future development of the area.

[2][7] Fidelity's CEO at the time was developer Bill Foley, whose holdings included Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana.