Shared Stewardship
Coming Together for Tomorrow’s Forests
The challenges facing America’s forests are urgent, and the growing momentum behind shared stewardship makes this a pivotal moment to act. With every state, Tribe, county and partner involved—and many renewing their agreements—we have a real chance to expand what’s already working. We’re ready to partner with you to target the right places, use the right tools, and invest at the right scale to ensure our forests are healthy and productive, and fuel rural prosperity for generations to come.
Why Shared Stewardship Matters Now
The Forest Service is committed to creating healthier and more productive forests, safer and thriving communities, and a reliable forest products economy. For us, it is not just about how much work we do, but on the long-term vitality of the land.
We cannot achieve that alone.
Since 2018, we have entered into individual or consortium shared stewardship agreements with every state, the District of Columbia and several territories and tribes. Under Chief Tom Schultz’s leadership, we are renewing and expanding these agreements and entering into new agreements with other partners focusing on the results we can achieve together.
This is more than process. This is delivery.
Shared Stewardship turns shared priorities into real work on the ground—logs delivered to mills, fuels reduced, trails maintained, culverts repaired, and landscapes restored. The work reflects a commitment to shared resources, shared planning, and shared outcomes.
Working Together for Better Results
When we work together, we can share resources and set shared priorities across whole landscapes. This helps us:
address forest health and wildfire
improve recreation infrastructure
protect clean water
work more quickly and more predictably
We want to make better use of the tools we already have, including the Good Neighbor Authority, to help us coordinate work across boundaries.
This shared approach delivers real benefits: reducing wildfire risk to communities; strengthening rural economies, supporting healthy forest products markets, and improving recreation and public access.
Together, we can build a unified roadmap that reflects local needs, state goals, tribal sovereignty, and federal responsibilities—a unified roadmap for action.
Shared Stewardship helps us pool funding and capacity, leverage strengths across jurisdictions, use existing authorities and tools more strategically, coordinate investments at the right scale, and respect statutory roles and government-to-government responsibilities.
Shared Ambition in Action
Across the country, we are highlighting successes and expanding agreements that address critical needs—from wildfire mitigation to community protection to post-fire recovery.
Shared stewardship agreements show what is possible when we work together.
The following agreements were renewed or signed since 2025:
Alaska (PDF, 412 KB) is advancing shared forest-management priorities through cross-boundary coordination on fuels reduction and wildfire mitigation, infrastructure upgrades, modern milling investments, and support for private and non-federal landowners. Read the announcement
Georgia (PDF, 1.35 KB) is coordinating cross-boundary active forest management across priority landscape supporting a wide range of priorities. Read the announcement
Idaho (PDF, 263 KB) is expanding timber production, accelerating restoration, and increasing fuels reduction treatments across 16.5 million acres of national forests. Read the announcement
Montana (PDF, 378 KB) is leveraging tools like the Good Neighbor Authority to expedite forest management and wildfire-risk reduction across 200,000 acres in northwest Montana. Read the announcement
Wyoming (PDF, 315 KB) is multiplying partner participation in project development and implementation, supporting collaboration across timber, energy, wildlife and habitat, recreation, and livestock grazing work to strengthen resource management across jurisdictions. Read the announcement
Utah (PDF, 1.03 MB) is using expanded Good Neighbor Authorities to increase cross-boundary active management and reduce community wildfire risk. Read the announcement
Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians is advancing work to reduce wildfire risk, improve forest health and protect cultural resources across 155,000 acres on the Umpqua and Rogue River-Siskiyou national forests. Read the announcement
Great Sioux Nation will enhance opportunities in the Black Elk Wilderness on the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota. The agreement includes opportunities for tribal guidance, knowledge, and consultation regarding wilderness management, resource protection, recreation, and cultural interpretation, at the discretion of the tribe and as applicable and permitted under federal law. It also ensures tribal interests of preservation, site protection, wilderness integrity, and cultural practice and access are heeded. There are 11 tribes represented in the agreement. Read the announcement
National Deer Association will identify, plan and implement stewardship actions in a variety of landscapes. An emphasis will be on forest management activities that increase federal timber harvest volumes, improve forest health and productivity, reduce wildfire risk, and support rural prosperity in forested communities. Read the announcement