List of Forests in Israel

Israel’s forests are not a single, uniform landscape. The sources describe natural oak and other woodland, planted pine forests, mixed groves, community forests, and wooded recreation areas. Natural calliprinos-oak woodland is found in the Upper Galilee, Mount Carmel, and other hilly areas; oak-dominated maquis occurs on volcanic rock in the Golan Heights above about 500 meters; montane forests occur on Mount Hermon between 1,300 and 1,800 meters; and carob and terebinth woodland grows on limestone hills at the foot of the central mountain range.[1] These natural settings sit alongside forests planted or expanded by people, often with substantial recreational, commemorative, or conservation functions.[2]

Documented examples range from Switzerland and Mevo Hama forests in the north to Ben Shemen in central Israel and HaMalachim–Shahariya, Yatir, Lahav, and Sharsheret forests in the south.[3] Many are recognized not only for their tree cover but also for trails, picnic facilities, viewpoints, archaeology, memorials, and nearby communities. Forests also appear in archival records of planting campaigns and in contemporary accounts of wildfire restoration.[4][5]

The sources used here do not constitute a complete or authoritative inventory. Names, boundaries, areas, and claims about which forest is the largest vary among reports; some sources mention forests incidentally in travel, recreation, or planning contexts. A historical reference to the Forest of Arsuf, for example, concerns a former woodland identified through scattered oak coppices, not a current forest entry in a modern inventory.[6]

The history of Israel’s planted forests includes large-scale restoration and the establishment of wooded areas for practical, commemorative, and public purposes. One account says indigenous forests had been almost totally destroyed by the early 20th century after centuries of grazing and woodcutting, and reports fewer than five million trees in the area in 1948. It describes a Jewish National Fund-led reforestation program that planted more than 200 million trees. Early planting emphasized evergreens in mountainous areas and eucalyptus in the south, before shifting toward a wider variety of species.[2]

A KKL-JNF history recounted by Ynet identifies the Herzl Forest at Ben Shemen as the organization’s first forest planting, with 12,000 trees planted in 1908. Planting began with olive trees, but shifted to pine and cypress after olive cultivation did not succeed; Hulda Forest was planted the following year, also in Herzl’s name.[7] Another report calls Hulda the first forest planted by KKL-JNF and dates its first planting to 1907, when 18 olive trees were planted.[8] These accounts differ in how they define the first planting and its date, and should not be collapsed into a single chronology.

By 1968–69, a report by the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency described wooded areas developed across the country “from Galilee to the central Negev,” and said small woods and copses had been expanded into forests covering 400,000 dunams. That figure describes the period covered by the report, not current forest area.[9] The same report listed the Peace Forest in the Jerusalem area and the Twentieth Anniversary Forest between Jerusalem and Maaleh Hahamisha as projects whose development had begun during the reporting year. It also named Abba Hushi Forest and Levi Eshkol Forest as planting projects intended to involve Jews in Israel and abroad, without specifying their locations in the cited passage.[9]

Archival material records how forest planting could be connected with public commemoration and national institutions. The Central Zionist Archives documents a 1949 “Defenders Forest,” described as a joint Army–JNF initiative, as well as a JNF “victory forest,” planting in Yakinton, and a forest planted in honor of Herzl in 1955.[4] These are examples in a historical archive, not a complete catalogue. A National Library of Israel catalog entry records a 1978 item about JNF celebrations of Israel’s 30th anniversary in places where forests were to be planted, but the catalog description does not identify those places or forests.[10]

The Holocaust Martyrs’ Forest, also called the “Forest of the Holy Ones” in an announcement quoted in a source sheet, was described as a planned memorial in the Judean Hills at the entrance to Jerusalem, dedicated to the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. The cited text presents an announced project, not evidence that it was completed. Its language links the renewing tree to remembrance: “Their names will be sanctified for eternity by the tree which is renewed time after time with the passing of the year.”[11]

Biriya Forest, on Mount Biriyyah in the Upper Galilee, is one of the region’s largest named forests. A reference account places it about 1.5 kilometers north of Safed and reports nearly six million trees there in 1968.[12] A later report describes it as a 20,000-dunam planted forest between Safed, Rosh Pina, and Hatzor HaGlilit, established by immigrants from North Africa from the 1950s through the 1970s.[13] Another account calls it the largest planted forest in the Galilee and describes pine woodland alongside fruit orchards, olive groves, and a peanut plantation. It also notes a historic fortress, religious tombs, views toward the Hula Valley and Golan Heights, and the restoration of an olive grove of about 450 dunams.[14]

Biriya’s tree cover has undergone repeated disruption and renewal. One account says heavy snow in the winter of 1992 caused thousands of trees to collapse, after which the forest was replanted with species including hawthorn, cedar, olive, oak, and Mediterranean rosebud. It also reports that Hezbollah rocket attacks devastated the forest during the 2006 Second Lebanon War and that the forest was subsequently replanted and rehabilitated.[15] The same article frames the early planting as “physical evidence that the Jews owned the land”; that characterization is the article’s framing of the forest’s political and historical meaning.[15]

Several other northern forests appear in reports on recreation, forestry, and damage. A Jerusalem Post report lists Naftali Mountains Forest on Ramim Ridge, Nabi Yusha Keren Naftali Forest, Bar’am Forest, Meron Forest, Rosh Hanikra Forest on Sulam Ridge, Kahal/Ammiad Forest, Katzrin Forest, Daliot Forest, and Hanita (Matzuba) Forest among forested sites affected by damage in northern Israel; it also mentions Salukia Springs, but does not identify that site as a forest.[16] A separate regional report names Tiberias/Switzerland Forest, Menachemia Forest, Lavi Forest, Tur’an Forest, Ein Dor Forest, Massad Forest, and the forest on Livnim Ridge in the Tiberias forestry district, as well as the Yavne’el Valley. It describes Tiberias/Switzerland Forest as established in the 1930s to help protect Tiberias and the area above the Sea of Galilee from soil erosion.[17]

The same forestry feature identifies Mishoa/Britain Forest, Haruvit Forest, Eshai Forest, Gderot Forest, Bilu Forest, and Tzafit Forest in the Shephelah. In the Lachish district it names Shachariya/HaMalakhim Forest, Lachish Forest, Gubrin Forest, and Amatzia Forest, alongside forests around Komemiyut, Plugot, Moreshet, and Eitan.[17] A separate list of forests and recreation destinations in the north includes Switzerland Forest and Mevo Hama Forest.[3]

Other northern examples include Beit Keshet Forest on the eastern slopes of the Nazareth mountains, and Odem and Shifon forests in the Golan Heights.[18][19] A travel account describes Odem as an oak forest with a nature reserve protecting rare plant species and wild animals, with picnic areas and hiking trails. At Shifon Forest, the Lohamim Campground has about ten oak-shaded picnic tables and a memorial to 74 soldiers who fought in the area during the Yom Kippur War. The same account describes an oak forest with ancient trees within Hurshat Tal Nature Reserve, at the foot of the Golan Heights.[19]

Ben Shemen Forest is associated with early KKL-JNF planting and appears in accounts of recreation and metropolitan geography. The first KKL-JNF forest planting is identified in one account as the Herzl Forest at Ben Shemen in 1908, while another says Hulda was first, dating its planting to 1907.[7][8] Ben Shemen is also named in a report describing the outer ring of metropolitan Jerusalem, at its western end alongside Modi’in. That mention comes from a report on metropolitan planning and political alternatives, not a forest inventory or an account of the forest’s ecology.[20]

Hulda Forest, in central Israel, is described in one source as the first forest planted by KKL-JNF, with 18 olive trees planted in 1907. A National Library of Israel archival photograph caption places the cornerstone ceremony for the new Kibbutz Hulda one kilometer west of its location in the Herzl Forest and identifies a monument to Ephraim Chizik and others at the site.[8][21] The caption documents a historical site and ceremony rather than supplying an ecological description of the forest.

Jerusalem Forest is an open space on the outskirts of Jerusalem and is also described as being not far from Mount Herzl.[22][23] One report on the city states that open spaces made up 53% of Jerusalem’s jurisdictional territory in 2013 and gives the city’s jurisdictional area as 126 square kilometers in 2021; these are citywide measures, not figures for Jerusalem Forest itself.[22] A separate account gives the forest’s area as 4,700 dunams and notes traces of ancient agriculture and burial caves.[24] It contains a memorial to President Kennedy, a circular structure of 51 columns representing the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, with surrounding trees planted in his honor.[23]

The wider Jerusalem corridor contains a network of planted and older wooded areas. President’s Forest is identified in the corridor, where it encompasses a large tree nursery at Eshtaol. The account describes forests extending from the Jerusalem foothills across hills, peaks, slopes, valleys, and terraces, with dozens of kilometers of winding roads built by KKL-JNF.[25] It also refers to ancient forests around the HaElah Valley near Mata, Mevo Betar, Bar Giora, and Nes Harim, and to older forests dating from the Mandate period near Beit Meir, Convoy Ridge, Shoresh, Shoeva, Givat Ye’arim, Kisalon, Ramat Raziel, Tzova, Kiryat Anavim, Maaleh HaHamisha, and Neveh Ilan.[25] The account describes the corridor’s transformation from rocky, sparsely vegetated hills into a large afforested and settled region through JNF planning and settlers’ work.[25]

Sha’ar Hagai Forest occupies the strategic pass between the Judean hills, roughly halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The British Mandate Forestry Service planted trees there from 1927 to 1937, and KKL-JNF later expanded the forest. The pass was a site of fighting during the War of Independence; the account also records extensive pine-tree losses after a snowstorm in December 1972.[26] Eshtaol Forest and Burma Road are among the Jerusalem Hills sites reported as charred by the 2025 wildfires and later showing renewed greenery. KKL-JNF began restoration work days after the fires and later repaired service roads and secondary trails as vegetation and seedlings returned.[5]

Aminadav Forest, west of Jerusalem, covers about 7,000 dunams and offers walking and bicycle trails. The same account describes Ramot Forest as a community forest with gazelles and varied wildlife, Jerusalem Forest as a trail destination, and Mir Forest—between Pisgat Ze’ev and Neve Ya’akov—as a mix of planted woodland, rocky ground, and semi-desert steppe. It estimates forests cover about 15% of Jerusalem’s area.[27] The Jerusalem Institute’s visitor survey also included Lahav Forest among its April–May 2000 field sites and refers to other surveys in southern JNF forests, especially Lahav, as part of research on outdoor recreation services.[28]

Yatir Forest is a major planted forest in southern Israel, in the semi-arid transition zone between Mediterranean vegetation of Mount Hebron and the Shephelah and the steppe and desert vegetation of the Negev and Judean Desert. KKL-JNF foresters planted its first trees in 1964 on the Yatir and Anim ridges; its name comes from the ancient Levite city whose ruins lie within the forest. Roads, trails, recreation areas, and archaeological sites were developed there.[29] The American Jewish Committee calls Yatir the largest planted forest in Israel.[30] A 2026 Jerusalem Post account describes it more cautiously as one of the country’s largest forests, giving an area of about 37,000 dunams and nearly 900,000 trees and noting its hiking trails, picnic campsites, scenic lookouts, and archaeological ruins.[31]

Published size and “largest forest” descriptions are not fully consistent. A Ynet account gives Yatir’s area as about 30,000 dunams, while a Jerusalem Post article gives 7,500 acres.[29][32] JNS reports 9,400 acres.[8] The sources do not explain whether these figures use the same boundaries or measurement conventions. A 2009 Globes article instead calls Yaar HaZorea, south of Yokne’am, Israel’s largest forest, reporting more than 30,000 dunams and 20 million trees. The differing claims may reflect their dates or scopes, but the sources do not resolve the discrepancy.[33]

Academic research characterizes Yatir as a planted Aleppo pine forest in Israel’s southern Judean Mountains, at about 650 meters elevation. A thesis gives its area as approximately 2,800 hectares, says it was planted between 1964 and 1969, and identifies Pinus halepensis as dominant, with some Cupressus sempervirens and a sparse understory. It describes a short wet season and a long, hot dry season.[34] Elsewhere, the thesis compares Yatir with Kedoshim as research sites with contrasting aridity and humidity. For 2017–2020 it reports average annual precipitation of 293.6 millimeters at Yatir and 728.8 millimeters at Kedoshim, and respective study areas of 30.23 and 26.25 square kilometers. These measurements pertain to that comparison and should not be treated as interchangeable with other descriptions of forest area or climate.[34]

Kedoshim Forest is an Israeli Long-Term Ecological Research site on the western slopes of the central Judean Mountains, at about 390–500 meters elevation. The thesis says it was planted in 1969 and identifies Aleppo pine and Pinus brutia as dominant, with cypress also present. Its soils are described as red Terra Rossa over limestone and dolomite.[34] The contrast with arid Yatir provides a research setting for examining forests under different climatic conditions.[34]

Lahav Forest, a JNF afforestation project planted in the 1950s and 1960s, covers about 3,000 hectares in semi-arid conditions with roughly 28 centimeters of rain per year. Its features include pine trees, early-spring mushrooms and primroses, water fountains, picnic tables, and access for people with disabilities.[35] It appears in recreation surveys and regional visitor lists.[28][36] A southern Israel drought report names Sansana, Lahav, Dvira, Carmim, Shikma, Meitar, Lachish, Yatir, Dudaim, and Gerar forests. It places Sansana Forest in the southern Hebron Hills between Lahav and Yatir, says trees in Sansana, Lahav, and Dvira were planted in the 1960s, and describes Carmim as about 9,500 dunams, largely of Jerusalem pine. It records drought damage in Shikma, Meitar, Lachish, Yatir, Dudaim, and Gerar forests.[37]

Shachariya–HaMalakhim Forest is described as about 7,000 dunams, with initial planting in 1956. The name Shachariya came from a nearby transit camp, while “HaMalakhim” was added in connection with donors from Los Angeles. The forest has natural regeneration, seasonal wildflowers, and archaeological sites.[17] Shokeda Forest, in the northern Negev near the Gaza Strip, is known in a seasonal account for anemones blooming across the landscape as the short winter season ends.[38] The Forest of Angels, also called Yaar Hamalachim, and Sharsheret Forest are among other southern forests named in hiking and recreation lists.[18][3]

Many forests combine planted trees with native woodland, open terrain, or agricultural and archaeological features. Carmel is described as a large forested parkland of about 25,000 acres, while a separate ecological account identifies natural calliprinos-oak woodland on Mount Carmel.[39][1] Beit Keshet, Ilanot Forest, and the Forest of Angels are among forests identified in hiking coverage; Britannia Park in the Judean Plain is described as 40,000 dunams of hills containing natural woodland, planted forests, and orchards.[18]

Manasseh Forest near Kibbutz Ha-Zore’a, on the western outskirts of the Jezreel Valley, is described as one of Israel’s largest forests, although the source gives no area or tree count.[40] Balfour Forest lies on slopes above Kibbutz Ginnegar on the northern rim of the Jezreel Valley, southwest of Nazareth. In the kibbutz’s early years, settlers worked planting it, and the source says it was then the country’s largest JNF forest.[41] Meir Forest is identified in the Hebron hills and named in honor of Meir Bar-Ilan (Berlin), with no further details supplied about its area or composition.[42]

Community forests and urban green spaces bring woodland close to populated areas. The community forest at Rosh HaAyin extends over about 1,050 dunams on hills at the foothills of Samaria, reaching the neighborhoods of Givat HaSela’im, Givat Tal, and Neve Afek; its infrastructure began in 1976. Kula Forest, also called HaKaf-Het Forest, lies south of El’ad, was planted by KKL-JNF beginning in the 1950s, and serves residents of El’ad and the surrounding area.[24] A separate list of visitor destinations includes Ben Shemen, Tzora, Jerusalem Forest, HaMeginim, Haruvit, and other forests and parks, illustrating the role of wooded sites in recreation, though not every listed destination is a forest.[36]

Visitor estimates provide a snapshot rather than a census. A Ynet report presenting KKL-JNF estimates for a six-month period listed Beit Keshet, Lavi, and Hof HaCarmel among northern destinations; Ben Shemen, Tzora, Jerusalem Forest, HaMeginim, and Haruvit in the center; and Lahav, Be’eri-Re’im, and Sharsheret among southern sites. It estimated 1,521,000 visitors to Ben Shemen, 1.4 million to Tzora, and 1.3 million to Sataf, another site in the list. The figures cover that six-month period and are not annual totals.[36] Popular Passover destinations also included Switzerland and Mevo Hama in the north, Ben Shemen in central Israel, and HaMalakhim–Shahariya, Yatir, Lahav, and Sharsheret in the south.[3]

Harduf Forest is associated with a service-learning center established through Project TEN in partnership with Israel Pathways, Sha’ar La’Adam, and Masa Israel Journey. Program options focused on interfaith dialogue and conflict resolution or on ecology and sustainable development; participants were to work on coexistence projects and ecological conservation while living among the trees.[43] The Jewish Agency account says the forest contains olive and pine trees. A Project TEN director described olive and pine as trees often seen as symbols of Arab and Jewish people, respectively, and compared growing them together with the challenge of bringing the two nations together.[43] This interpretation is a stated program perspective, while the forest’s tree composition and the program’s activities are separately described in the account.[43]

Fire and other damage have affected forests in several regions. The Carmel Forest fire began in the Carmel Mountain Range near Haifa on December 2, 2010, burned for four days, consumed more than 8,000 acres and an estimated five million trees, killed 44 people, and led to evacuations. The Center for Israel Education reports that 18,000 volunteers later helped JNF and other organizations regenerate the scorched land.[44]

The Gaza-periphery forests are described as networks of small planted groves rather than naturally occurring forests. One account says local kibbutzim and moshavim planted drought-resistant eucalyptus, pine, and mesquite during the 1960s and 1970s, after much of the area’s earlier tree cover had been cut down during the Ottoman period. It names Be’eri Forest and the Kissufim forests and reports that fires burned 3,000 dunams of conservation area in the two forests together.[45] This is the source’s historical account of the region’s tree cover and planting, rather than a comprehensive ecological inventory.[45]

Reports attribute some fires in Kissufim and Be’eri forests to incendiary balloons. A report covering August 2021 says three fires broke out in Kissufim Forest and one in Be’eri Forest on August 6; it attributes them to incendiary balloons, citing an Israeli Fire and Rescue Services investigator.[46] A July 2019 report attributes a fire in Kissufim Forest to an incendiary balloon, citing a Facebook page identified as belonging to the Baraq balloon-launching unit.[47] These are the reports’ attributions and cited bases; the available material does not independently verify responsibility.

A separate account describes Be’eri Forest as about 12,000 acres and says it is being renewed, with 620 dunams designated for restoration planting of acacias, eucalyptus, sycamores, jujube trees, and tamarisks. It also reports the establishment of “Iron Swords Forest” as a place where people can commemorate those killed on October 7 or in the subsequent war.[48] Another report gives Be’eri Forest’s area as about 12,000 dunams, places it west of Route 232 between Nahal Oz and Nahal HaBesor, and says it was planted from the early 1950s through the 2010s, mainly with eucalyptus and pine. The two reported area figures differ substantially and are retained as separately sourced descriptions.[13]

Other forests in the Gaza periphery and south are also discussed in the context of war and recovery. A 2025 report describes Yad Mordechai Forest as about 3,000 dunams surrounding Yad Mordechai, Netiv HaAsara, Carmia, Zikim, and Mavki’im, with planting beginning in the 1950s. The same report gives Biriya as about 20,000 dunams and Katzrin Forest as about 2,200 dunams in several sections around Katzrin, with mixed woodland.[13] A 2012 report records an Israeli drone interception at Yatir Forest on October 6 and quotes the IDF Spokesman saying the site was chosen “to avoid possible damage to populated areas.”[49]

Forests also serve as settings for memorials and historical interpretation. The Holocaust Martyrs’ Forest and the Kennedy memorial in Jerusalem Forest commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and President John F. Kennedy, respectively.[11][23] Shifon Forest’s campground includes a memorial to 74 soldiers who fought in the area during the Yom Kippur War.[19] A 2026 wildfire-restoration report names Ayalon Canada Park, Eshtaol Forest, Burma Road, and the Forest of the Martyrs among Jerusalem Hills and Judean Hills areas that had appeared charred and were showing renewed greenery about a year later. It reports that KKL-JNF began restoration days after the fires and later repaired service roads and secondary trails as vegetation and seedlings returned.[5]

Recent reports and institutional lists supply many additional names, but their purposes differ. A 2026 Maariv report lists eight forest reserves declared or updated in northern Israel: Har Haidar, Har Sasa, Netua-Tzunam, Fassuta, Tarbiha, Shefer, Kadirim, and Wadi Lemon. It says Netua-Tzunam, Har Sasa, Kadirim, and Shefer were new designations, while the other four replaced or updated older declarations. The three largest were Netua-Tzunam at 8,513 dunams, Kadirim at 6,827 dunams, and Har Sasa at 5,777 dunams; the combined area of the eight was about 27,000 dunams.[50]

The same report says about 900,000 dunams in Israel were designated forest reserves, out of approximately 1.5 million dunams of planted forest.[50] These categories and figures are the report’s contemporary account and do not convert the names assembled here into a complete national list. Similarly, a 1995 afforestation master plan described 162,000 hectares of woodland and open areas, more than 15% of Israel’s land area north of Be’er Sheva; those figures refer to the plan and its coverage, not necessarily to current planted forest alone.[2]

Forest names also appear in tourist and regional reporting that mixes forests with parks, reserves, recreation areas, and other destinations. For example, visitor lists include sites such as Jordan Park, Sataf, Nahal HaShofet Park, and Adullam Park alongside named forests. Their inclusion in a regional destination list does not establish that each is itself a forest.[36] Likewise, sources that mention a forest in a planning report or archival catalog may provide only a geographic or historical reference rather than details about present-day boundaries, tree cover, or public access.[20][10]

For these reasons, the forests named in this article should be understood as a documented selection, not an exhaustive list. The source material ranges from academic research on individual ecological sites to historical archives, institutional descriptions, news reports, and recreation coverage.[34][4] It captures the variety and significance of Israel’s forest landscapes while leaving many forests, changing boundaries, and differences in measurement outside the scope of a definitive inventory.