Forests support many tribal communities across the world.  Forests provide wood products, clean water, traditional products for subsistence like wildlife and plants, places for spiritual and traditional activities, as well as a source of jobs and economic income.  There is an estimated 18 million acres of forestland on Indian reservations in the United States, according to the December 2003 Assessment of Indian Forests and Forest Management in the United States.

Indian forestland is defined in the National Indian Forest Resource Management Act as, "... lands, including commercial and non-commercial timberland and woodland, that are considered chiefly valuable for the production of forest products or to maintain watershed or other land values enhanced by a forest cover, regardless whether a formal inspection and land classification action has been taken".  More broadly, Indian forestland can be defined as any forestland that Native American communities value for their cultural, spiritual, and/or economic significance.

Indian Forestland in the Americas is ecologically diverse and includes forested ecosystems from northern Canada to the tip of South America and everything in between.  Some examples of the diverse Native American forestland includes temperate rainforest in Washington, deciduous hardwoods in the Northeast and Midwest United States, conifer in the West and Southwest United States, and tropical rainforest, cloud forest, and savannas in Central and South America.

More Information on Indian Forestland can be found through the following links:

Sustainable Forest Certification on Tribal Land(.pdf) - This is a resource manual for Native American Forest Management Operations and Forest Products Enterprises produced by the First Nation Development Institute.

Intertribal Timber Council (ITC) Home Page -ITC was established in 1976 and is a nonprofit nation-wide consortium of Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, and individuals dedicated to improving the management of natural resources of importance to Native American Communities.

Maps of Federal Lands and Indian Reservations - This is a series of downloadable maps created by NationalAtlas.gov showing Federal Lands and Indian Reservations. This information is mapped for the entire United States and by each individual State.  GIS data is also available on this site.