Abstract The long-term trend for private forests in the United States is that of more people owning smaller pieces of wooded land for amenity values. This trend shows no sign of slowing, and indications are that it may be speeding up. The fragmenting of forests into smaller pieces appears to be driven by powerful social and demographic forces that consistently undertax and overserve developed areas, while overtaxing and underserving traditional rural land uses, such as forestry.