USDA Forest Service Invests $106M Into Private Lands
Originally Published by: HBS Dealer — August 1, 2025
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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins has announced that the U.S. Forest Service is investing $106 million to support state and landowner efforts to conserve private working forestlands across the country. Funded through the Forest Legacy Program, these projects aim to protect forests vital to the economic and social fabric of local communities – ensuring they remain productive, working forests for Americans and tourists to use and enjoy.
“Just like our farms and ranches, working forests are part of the backbone of rural America – providing jobs, timber, clean water, and places for families to hunt, fish, camp, hike and make lifelong memories,” said Secretary Brooke Rollins. “For too long our forests have been left idle, only to burn and devastate communities,” she added.
In total, the Forest Service will fund 10 projects across 177,000 acres of state- and privately owned forestlands in Arkansas, Hawaii, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Oregon and South Carolina. The investments aim to advance the executive order on Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production by safeguarding forests that supply crucial wood products and outdoor recreation opportunities.
The Forest Legacy Program is authorized by the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act Of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2103c) and operates through voluntary partnerships with states and landowners with the goal of conserving these lands while balancing other local uses and goals. Projects are selected through competitive state and national processes and carried out through conservation easements or fee-simple acquisitions. Lands conserved through the program either remain in private ownership with long-term protections or become new public lands managed by state or local governments.
The USDA says privately owned forests represent 60 percent of the nation’s 704 million forested acres and supply 88 percent of all domestic timber.
To date, the agency says the Forest Legacy Program has conserved more than 3.1 million acres of forestland nationwide. To learn more or to view the full list of 2025 projects, visit the Forest Legacy Program webpage.