This 462-acre wildlife area is situated in northeast Ohio on the east side of Auburn Road, one-half mile north of Auburn Corners on Washington Road. It can be reached from State Route 44 on the east. Geauga County is famous for its sugar maple products drawn from its extensive beech-maple woods. Originally, the Auburn area was covered with approximately 85 percent beech-maple forest and 15 percent elm-ash-soft maple swamp forest. Initial settlement resulted in the clearing of much of the land. Even the land that was not cultivated was pastured, opening the forest canopy and allowing the cottontail rabbit, bobwhite quail, and fox squirrel populations to increase. The area lies in a shallow U-shaped valley with scattered knolls. Topography is very flat and the soils have poor drainage characteristics. In addition to large permanent wet areas, much of the area is subject to seasonal flooding. Drainage ditches were constructed in the 1930s by previous landowners in an attempt to improve the land for cultivation, but eventually farming was abandoned. Approximately half of the area now consists of second-growth successional hardwoods and maturing states of brush. Several small blocks of original mature beech-maple woods are still present.