Oregon’s Department of Forestry (ODF) is committed to ensuring the sustainability of Oregon’s forestlands by protecting them from wildfire, enforcing Oregon’s Forest Practices Act and managing state-owned forests. ODF strives to accomplish its mission “to serve the people of Oregon by protecting, managing and promoting stewardship of Oregon’s forests to enhance environmental, economic and community sustainability” with oversight from the Oregon Board of Forestry. The department has more than 800 permanent and over 600 seasonal employees, who work out of its Salem headquarters or the 32 field offices throughout Oregon. The department is organized into three branches: Administrative, Operational and Planning.​

The Fire Protection Division protects just over half of Oregon’s 30 million total acres of forestland from wildfire through prevention and suppression activities. This includes all of Oregon’s privately-owned forests, state forests and some local and federal government forestlands. 

The Forest Resources Division administers Oregon’s Forest Practices Act. Enacted in 1971, and modified many times since, the Act regulates stream and water quality protection, timber harvesting, reforestation, road construction and maintenance, and other forest practices on private, non-federal lands. The division is also responsible for supporting partner organizations’ efforts to increase the pace, scale and quality of restoration work on federal forestlands through the Federal Forest Restoration program. The division houses the forest health, family forestlands, and urban and community forestry programs.

Through the State Forests Division, the agency manages approximately 745,000 acres of forestland owned by the state, or 3% of the state’s forests. State-owned forests are found in the northern Coast and Cascade mountain ranges, in south-central Oregon, and scattered throughout the western part of the state. ODF manages these lands to achieve a balance of social, economic and environmental values. The agency also manages much of the state’s Common School Fund forestlands.

The Planning Branch provides technical analysis and planning services to the department, as well as other state, federal and local agencies on a wide variety of forestry-related issues.