The Counties With The Most Forest

Forested ground in a few US counties exceeds the total area of some states. USDA Forest Service inventory data places the forest land in several counties in the millions of acres, across timberlands in northern Maine, pine and juniper country in northern Arizona, and redwood slopes on the northern California coast. In Southeast Alaska, a much smaller borough holds a mix of state timberland and coastal rainforest. Climate, soil, and land use determine how much of each county stays under trees.

Landscape in Aroostook County, Maine. Editorial credit: IAmPhotographyMan / Shutterstock.com The USDA Forest Service estimates 3.8 million acres of forest land in Aroostook County, the most of any county in Maine. The county is east of the Mississippi River, and its northern forests form part of the North Maine Woods, a landscape of timberlands, lakes, rivers, and remote roads. The North Maine Woods covers approximately 3.5 million acres of mostly undeveloped land across much of western Aroostook County. Timber companies and private landowners manage the region for commercial forestry.

Almost all of the 3.5 million acres in the North Maine Woods is working forest, with much of the land managed for timber production and wildlife habitat. Timber harvesting plays a major role across Maine, where about 521 million cubic feet of wood is harvested each year statewide. Conifers and northern hardwoods mix across the region, including spruce, fir, maple, and birch. In autumn, the hardwood canopy turns red, orange, and yellow.

Fire charred trees in Coconino County, Arizona. Editorial credit: Fsendek / Shutterstock.com Coconino County has more forest land than any other county in Arizona. While the entire state of Arizona has around 4.5 million acres of designated wilderness, the county alone contains over 3.2 million acres of National Forest system lands.

The county is better known for deserts, cactus, and red-rock formations, but large stretches around Flagstaff fall within Coconino National Forest. The forest covers around 1.8 million acres, with ponderosa pine across higher elevations near the Mogollon Rim and San Francisco Peaks. The trees grow tall and widely spaced, with orange-brown bark and thick trunks forming open stands across northern Arizona.

Fire shapes forest health in the area as well. Over centuries, the ecosystems adapted to frequent, low-intensity fires that moved across the forest floor. Those fires cleared grasses, fallen branches, and smaller trees while leaving many mature pines standing. Changes in fire patterns and a buildup of dense vegetation now leave the area more vulnerable, and concern about severe wildfires in parts of the region is growing.

Rolling mountain forests in Humboldt County, California. Along California’s far northern coast, Humboldt County contains an estimated 1.9 million acres of forest land. Much of that landscape is redwood forest, one of the most recognizable forest types in the world. Humboldt lies along a rugged stretch of the Pacific Coast, with mountains, rivers, and foggy valleys inland. The public forested lands, including National Forests, State Parks, National Parks, and BLM reserves, total over 679,500 acres or around 35.5% of the total forest land.

Age and physical scale set the redwoods apart. Some trees rise 380 feet above the forest floor. California once held more than 2 million acres of ancient redwood forest. Only about 113,000 acres of old-growth redwoods remain today, and about 1.5 million acres of younger forest have grown back on previously logged land. Much of the forest in Humboldt has returned, but most of the original old growth is gone.

The northern district of Haines, Alaska. Editorial credit: dvlcom – www.dvlcom.co.uk / Shutterstock.com Haines Borough is at the northern edge of Southeast Alaska, where the wet coastal climate begins to meet the colder, drier interior. The Census Bureau treats Alaska’s boroughs as county equivalents, and the Chilkat Valley hosts one of the world’s largest concentrations of bald eagles in late fall and early winter.

Much of the local forest story centers on the 286,000-acre Haines State Forest. Its boundaries follow the Chilkoot, Chilkat, and Ferebee river watersheds, with terrain climbing from sea level to more than 7,000 feet in the surrounding mountains. Western hemlock and Sitka spruce dominate much of the forested ground, with cottonwood and willow common near the rivers.

About 42,000 acres of the state forest are designated for commercial timber harvest. Nearby, the 48,000-acre Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve protects river-bottom habitat along the Chilkat, Klehini, and Tsirku rivers, including the salmon runs that draw thousands of eagles to the valley.

These four counties show how much US forests differ across regions. Timber jobs, wildlife habitat, watershed protection, and carbon storage all depend on these wooded landscapes. Coastal rainforest, high-elevation pine, redwood, and northern timberland cover millions of acres, underscoring just how extensive and varied America’s forests are.