List of types of formally designated forests



This is a list of types of formally designated forests, as institutionalized around the world. It is organized in three sublists: by forest ownership, protection status, and designated use.

By ownership

 * Church forests of Ethiopia - protected sacred forests around rural churches
 * Community forest
 * Community forests in England
 * County forest
 * Crown land
 * Municipal forest
 * National forest
 * National forest (Brazil) - a type of sustainable use protected area
 * The National Forest (England) - a government-supported, "environmental project in central England"
 * National forest (France) - a forest that is owned by the French state, originating with the Edict of Moulins of 1566
 * National forest (United States) - classification of Federal lands in the United States
 * National reserve - legal designation in the United States, beginning in 1978
 * Private forest
 * Corporate forest
 * Private nonindustrial forest land
 * Private landowner assistance program - a class of U.S. government assistance program for maintaining, developing, improving and protecting wildlife
 * Private reserve
 * Private forest reserve
 * Private timber reserve (Tasmania)
 * Private nature reserve
 * Provincial forest - administered or protected by an agency of a province; varies by jurisdiction
 * Provincial forests (Manitoba)
 * Royal forest - an area of land with varying meanings; not necessarily densely wooded
 * State forest - administered or protected by an agency of a state; varies by jurisdiction
 * Tribal forest - owned, controlled, and/or utilized by a (formally recognized) indigenous or tribal group

By protection status

 * Ancient woodland - formal designation used in the United Kingdom
 * Ancient semi-natural woodland (ASNW) - composed of native tree species not obviously planted
 * Bannwald - a protected forest area in parts of Germany and Austria
 * Biosphere reserve - as designated by UNESCO
 * Biological reserve
 * Conservation reserve - used in the United States' Conservation Reserve Program
 * Forest circle - an administrative area including protected or resource-managed forests, used in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
 * Forest division - a non-overlapping subdivision of a forest circle, used in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
 * Forest park (The Gambia), as in Dobo Forest Park, Faba Forest Park, Finto Manereg Forest Park, etc.
 * Forest preserve, formal dedication for state-owned lands within the constitutionally designated Adirondack and Catskill Parks of the U.S. state of New York, required to be kept forever wild.
 * Forest protected area - formal designation of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the World Commission on Protected Areas
 * Forest range - a non-overlapping subdivision of a forest division, used in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
 * Forest reserve or preserve
 * Recreational forest reserve, e.g. the Recreational Forest Reserve of Fontinhas, Azores
 * High-biodiversity wilderness area - an International Union for Conservation of Nature classification
 * High conservation value area - developed by the Forest Stewardship Council as a means of defining regions with a specific environmental, socioeconomic, biodiversity or landscape value for use within forestry management certification systems
 * High conservation value forest - a FSC designation for forests meeting criteria specified in its "Principles and Criteria of Forest Stewardship"
 * Intact forest landscape - NGO-developed term used in forest monitoring
 * Old-growth forest - in Australia, formal protection category in the Regional Forest Agreement
 * Private natural heritage reserve - designation used in Brazil
 * Protected forest - used in Cambodia and India
 * Protected landscape - used in the Czech Republic
 * Reserve forest - used to designate protected forest areas in British India; used today in Bangladesh, India, Kazakhstan and Pakistan to refer to forests accorded a special degree of protection
 * Reserved forests and protected forests of India
 * Protected and reserved forests of Pakistan
 * Sacred grove - protected in Ghana, Nigeria and possibly elsewhere
 * Sacred groves of India
 * Schonwald, a type of formally protected forest in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in which economic usage of the forest is permitted under certain restrictions
 * Wild forest, formal designation within the New York Forest Preserve
 * Wilderness forest
 * Wildlife forest
 * Wildlife management area
 * Wildlife reserve
 * Wildlife sanctuaries of India
 * World Heritage Forest - formally recognized for special biophysical or cultural significance; administered by UNESCO

By designated use

 * Dehesa - lands utilizing a particular agrosylvopastoral system in Spain and Portugal
 * Demonstration forest
 * Experimental forest - formal designation used by the United States Forest Service
 * Intensive monitoring site - formal designation used by the United States Forest Service
 * Long-term ecological research site
 * Model forest - formal designation used by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Model Forest Network
 * Private nonindustrial forest land - small, family owned, and timber-producing forest lands
 * Production forest
 * Protection forest - forests that mitigate or prevent the impact of a natural hazard; designation in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland (Schutzwald) and elsewhere in Europe, particularly in mountainous areas (e.g. as a protection against avalanches)
 * Research forest
 * Research natural area - formal designation used by the United States Forest Service
 * Teaching forest