At this point, I do not aim to be as comprehensive in my coverage of these public lands as I aim to be with America's national parks, monuments, and other NPS units, but there are interesting issues and amazing places out there that need to be shared.
These pages may be a bit sparser, for now, than the pages for other lands. There is only one of me and there is only so much I can do!
National Forest is a classification of protected and managed federal lands in the United States. National Forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned collectively by the American people through the federal government, and managed by the United States Forest Service, a division of the United States Department of Agriculture.
The United States has 154 protected areas known as National Forests covering 188,336,179 acres (762,169 km2/294,275 sq. mi). The National Forests are managed by the U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The first National Forest was established as the Yellowstone Park Timber and Land Reserve on March 30, 1891, then in the Department of the Interior. In 1897, the Organic Act provided purposes for which forest reserves could be established, including to protect the forest, secure water supplies, and supply timber. With the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, the President of the United States was given the power to set aside forest reserves in the public domain. With the Transfer Act of 1905, forest reserves became part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the newly created U.S. Forest Service.
As of September 30, 2014, the Forest Service manages a total 192,922,127 acres (780,728.15 km2), 188,336,179 acres (762,169.48 km2) of which are National Forests. The additional land areas include 20 National Grasslands, 59 purchase units, 19 research and experimental areas, five land utilization projects and 37 other areas. The National Forest System has an extensive and complicated history of reorganization, so while there are currently 154 named National Forests, many of these are managed together as either a single forest or separate forests.
There is at least one National Forest in all but ten states: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Dakota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island (although Kansas and North Dakota have national grasslands). In addition, Puerto Rico contains El Yunque National Forest. Alaska has the most national forest land with 21.9 million acres (8.9 million ha), followed by California (20.8 million acres, 8.4 million ha) and Idaho (20.4 million acres, 8.3 million ha). Idaho also has the greatest percent of its land in national forests with 38.2%, followed by Oregon with 24.7% and Colorado with 20.9%. On maps, national forests in the west generally show the true extent of their area, but those in the east often only show purchase districts, within which usually only a minority of the land is owned by the Forest Service. (Wikipedia)