<p>Forests generate numerous services upon which society depends. In the United States, much of this comes from private owners including small-scale family forest owners, who may face barriers to participating in timber and ecosystem services markets, and economic drivers that induce them to convert forests to other land uses. This study focuses on state-administered financial payment programs for private forest landowners, which provide payments in exchange for doing something socially desirable, or refraining from doing something socially undesirable related to the management or use of their forested land, with the motivation of maintaining ecosystem services. A questionnaire was sent to all state forest agencies seeking information on these programs, to document and account for this component of payments for ecosystem services made to private forest landowners from 2005 to 2019. Most (94%) of the documented programs include the mode of reimbursement for management activities conducted, including via cost-sharing payments, and most (61%) received the funding from federal government sources. The most common activities supported included burning (56%), thinning and cutting (53%), planting (40%), herbicide control (37%), and mechanical control (37%). Total area enrolled and payments made at first glance appear to show an increasing trend over time from 37,475 hectares and $7 million in 2005 up to 99,483 hectares and $27 million in 2019. However, review of the underlying data suggests that total area enrolled and payments made actually has remained relatively flat over time, with periodic large increases including in 2019 and a few other years, perhaps in response to discrete events such as pest outbreaks and natural disasters.</p>