State forest
This sign at the entrance to the Belanglo State Forest in Australia advises visitors to "please be careful".
A state forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign or federated state, or territory.
The precise application of the term varies by jurisdiction. For example:
- In Australia, it refers to forest that is protected by state laws, rather than by the Government of Australia.
- In New Zealand, it is forest that is controlled by a central government agency.
- In Poland, state-owned forests are managed by the State Forests agency
- In the United Kingdom, it refers to any forest (usually plantations) owned and managed by the Forestry Commission.
- In the United States, it refers to a forest owned by one of the individual states.