The Yale Myers forest was established in the early 1930s through the generosity of Yale Forestry School alumnus George Myers, who was a member of the School's first graduating class in 1902. Myers assembled the Forest from about 100 former farm holdings and donated them to Yale in 1930, and ever since Yale Myers has been managed as a multiple-use, working forest. It is one of the largest privately held and professionally managed forest parcels in the region, and it is the largest physical possession of Yale University. As is true with all the Yale Forests, it is managed as a working forest and is used for research, education and demonstration, and active forest management. Most research conducted at Yale Myers has been concerned with silviculture and forest ecology, but there some has focused on wildlife ecology and management. The amount of overall research activity has been increasing. One of the management objectives of the Yale Myers Forest is the generation of income for the School Forests Program, virtually all of which must come from timber management.
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The Yale Myers Forest is embedded within State Forest, Park and industrial timberlands. The forest links the Bigelow Hollow State Park and the Nipmuck State Forest in the North, with the Natchaug State Forest in the south. Hull Forest Products owns inholdings within the forest, and Nature Conservancy lands abut part of the forest's eastern boundary. The remaining lands are owned by small non-industrial timberland owners that range in size from 3 to 50 acres. Since 1986, the number of house lots in this region has doubled, and many of these small parcels have been developed into small house lots.
Hunting (by permit) and public fishing are administered by the Connecticut Deparment of Environmental Protection. A 9-mile portion of the Nipmuck Trail, maintained by the Connecticut Forest and Park Association, traverses the Forest from south to north. This hiking trail is the only part of the Forest open to the general public for recreational use other than hurting and fishing.
Yale Myers has a small camp area that is used as a base of operations for researchers, student managers, faculty, and staff, as well as serving as a site for field trips, community outreach and education events. When Yale Myers was first acquired its facilities consisted of four farmhouses and several barns. In the 1930s and 40s a sawmill, a shed and three camp buildings were erected near the Morse House, and this area has been the center of activities since the commencement of field camp in 1931. In recent years the camp area has seen the addition of a research laboratory, a greenhouse, new bathrooms, and the replacement of the original "classroom" building with a modernized version containing improved kitchen, computing, and housing facilities. The Morse House was renovated in 2006, and the French House is scheduled for renovation in the next decade. Additional dormitory, classroom, and research facilities are planned for the camp area as well.