Forestry

The Iowa DNR works to help Iowans expand and care for the state's roughly 3 million acres of trees and forests. We use professionally trained foresters and natural resource technicians to provide forestry assistance to private landowners, to sustainably manage our state forests, to operate the State Forest Nursery at costs of production, and to protect, utilize and enhance the state's forest resources for today and tomorrow.

Forestry services include the State Forest Nursery, forest health, urban forestry, landowner assistance, fire management and prescribed fire, educational opportunities, Iowa's wood industry and logging and fall color reporting.

Foresters and forestry staff are happy to assist you with your private, public, urban, forest health, fire-related, and tree-planting needs.

Forestry Staff Contact Information  

The 2020 revision of Iowa’s Forest Action Plan is a comprehensive look at trees and forests across the state including in-depth assessments of past and present forest health, urban forestry, fire management, private lands management, forest productivity, and future conditions. The Forest Action Plan contains a set of strategic goals and strategies aimed at maximizing forest health and productivity, strategically growing Iowa’s forests, and promoting the benefits of Iowa’s forest resource.

Iowa’s 2020 Forest Action Plan is formatted as a user-friendly, engaging, and highly detailed webpage which allows users to interact with data, view high-resolution GIS maps on a street level, and look at historical trends of data over the past decade. This Forest Action Plan is best viewed on a computer versus a mobile phone and is optimized for the Google Chrome browser, but can be viewed on any web browser.

This Forest Action Plan also serves as a requirement of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service for states applying for forestry-related federal funding.

The Landscape Scale Restoration Grant Program (or LSR, formerly known as Competitive Redesign Grant) is delivered by a partnership between the USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry, and the Iowa DNR. The program is intended to implement watershed level, forest-based projects and activities which address the three State and Private Forestry national themes: conserve and manage working forests, protect forests from threats, and enhance public benefits from private forests. These activities will integrate multiple program areas, including forest stewardship, forest health and protection, wildland fire mitigation and restoration, and urban and community forestry.

The DNR works with partners to develop LSR projects proposals for the nationwide scoring and review process. The development process typically begins in December or January and continues until final national submission in September. Eligible project partners include, but are not limited to, state agencies, non-profit organizations, conservation districts, or county and municipal governments. Funds may only be used on non-federal lands and may not be used to compensate federal staff or expenses.

For more information or to submit a partner idea, please contact Emma Hanigan at emma.hanigan@dnr.iowa.gov or 515-249-1732.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to personnel and funding shortages, DNR staff are currently unable to check trees nominated for the Big Tree program; however, dedicated volunteers are checking nominations as they are able to do so. To assist our volunteers, please consider donating to the program using the donation form provided below.

The Big Tree program serves to recognize the largest trees in the state, to focus attention on trees in general, and to encourage friendly competition among Iowa participants. For a list of Iowa’s current champion trees, and for information about nominating and measuring potential specimens, please see the following:

Big Tree Nomination Form

Big Tree Donation Form

Measuring Big Trees

Listing of Iowa's Biggest Trees

Tub Grinder List
Contact: Emma Hanigan

Wood Utilization Info
Contact: Aron Flickinger

The DNR is responsible for managing Iowa's wildlife for all of Iowa's citizens. One of the DNR's responsibilities is to provide private landowners with the guidance and assistance they need to effectively deal with wildlife damage.

Find out more regarding wildlife damage identification and management.