[3] The protected natural area consists of 267 acres within the larger Tamarack Swamp complex.

[1][7] The wetland has a total area of 4000 acres,[7][8] and serves as the headwaters of Drury Run.

[10] In a 1925 book by Francis R. Cope, the author referred to the wetland as "a little oasis in the desert.

[1] Logging was conducted as late as the 1940s, when Hicks Jennings cut down the only remaining virgin spruce in Tamarack Swamp.

[12] In the 1990s, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy added over 9400 acres to Sproul State Forest, including Tamarack Swamp.