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Caring for the Land and Serving People

Established in 1905, the Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is the nation’s foremost federal forestry organization. The agency is a world leader in forest research, providing leadership in the sustainable management, conservation, use, and stewardship of natural and cultural resources on national forests and grasslands in the United States.

Dedicated Forest Service employees manage the National Forest System, which consists of 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering 193 million acres in 43 states, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. The agency’s renowned fire management organization provides critical expertise in making communities and infrastructure safer. Moreover, the agency helps communities; state, local, and tribal governments; forest industries; and private forest landowners improve conditions in both urban and rural areas. In total, the Forest Service helps to steward about 900 million forested acres in the U.S., including 130 million acres in urban areas, which most Americans now call home.