Chippewa National Forest is a National Forest located in northcentral Minnesota, United States, in the counties of Itasca, Cass and Beltrami. Forest headquarters are located in Cass Lake, Minnesota. There are local ranger district offices in Blackduck, Deer River and Walker.History and geographyThe forest covers 666623acre. Water is abundant, with over 1,300 lakes (including Leech Lake), 923 miles (1,485 km) of rivers and streams and 400000acre of wetlands. Inside the forest the Cut Foot Sioux Trail runs along the Laurentian Divide.The forest was established as the Minnesota Forest Reserve on June 27, 1902, with passage of the Morris Act. While this act mainly addressed the disposition of unallotted lands on Ojibwe Indian reservations in Minnesota, 200000acre of the Chippewas of the Mississippi, Cass Lake, Leech Lake, and Winnibigoshish Indian reservations were designated as a Forest Reserve.
