Community forests are the oldest type of forest lands in public
ownership. Some have been in existence for 200 years in the eastern
states and records of older community forests have been found in some of
the European countries. The Division of Forestry is cooperating with
counties and communities in an effort to get a large scale community
forest program in Illinois. To date there are 58 community forests
having a total acreage of 52,296 acres. Up to the present time 700,000
trees have been planted on these areas in cooperation with the Division
of Forestry.
Nine counties in the State have County Forest Preserve Districts at
present. The ratio of ten acres for each 1,000 population within the
county appears to be a fair goal for county forest preserve systems in
accordance with the Illinois State Planning Commission. On this basis 19
counties in Illinois should have forest preserves.