Who owns Idaho’s forest lands?

Most of Idaho’s forest lands are owned by government entities

Forest lands are designated when at least 10% of the land is covered by trees. Of the 21.5 million acres of total forest lands in Idaho, most of it -- about 86% -- is owned and managed by government entities. The rest -- about 14% -- is owned by private entities.

The graphic from 2015, the most recent and available data, shows the percentage ownership of Idaho’s 21.5 million acres of forests lands. More than 3/4ths of Idaho’s forest lands are owned and managed by the US Forest Service, also known as the National Forest System or NFS.

Forestland ownership data by acres

This table below highlights the total acres (in thousands of acres) and uses on all owner-classified forestlands in Idaho. Data comes from the USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis EVALIDator, 2015, the most recent and available data.

OWNERSHIP ALL CLASSES			LAND USE - MAJOR
Thousands of Acres	Total	Timberland	Reserved	Other
	Forest Land		Forest Land	Forest Land

TOTAL	21,589	16,532	3,771	1,287
National Forest System	16,309	11,951	3,682	676
National Park Service	58	0	58	0
Bureau of Land Mgmt	875	577	18	280
Dept of Defense	41	25	0	17
State	1,245	1,123	12	110
Private	3,060	2,856	0	204

Percent of State Total [unadjusted for ROADLESS]
TOTAL	100%	100%	100%	100%
National Forest System	76%	72%	98%	53%
National Park Service	0%	0%	2%	0%
Bureau of Land Mgmt	4%	3%	0%	22%
Dept of Defense	0%	0%	0%	1%
State	6%	7%	0%	9%
Private	14%	17%	0%	16%