a) Territorial
b) Wild life
c) Social Forestry
d) Working Plan
e) Research
f) Training
g) Vigilance

The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (HOFF) controls the activities of the Territorial Units.

Administratively, the State is divided into 13 Forest Territorial Circles, 40 Territorial Divisions.

A Conservator of Forests oversees the working and control of Territorial Forest Divisions , Social Forestry divisions (Technical Control) and Wildlife divisions coming under their circle jurisdiction.

A Deputy Conservator of Forests is the administrative head of a Forest Division. He is assisted by Assistant Conservators of Forests in the sub-divisions and Range Forest Officers in the Ranges. The Territorial Ranges are divided into Sections headed by Section Foresters and Beats headed by Forest Beat Guards.

The jurisdictional boundaries of the Forest Divisions are independent of Revenue Department jurisdictions and are based on forest area and density. The Districts of Uttara Kannada, Shimoga, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Mysore have more than one forest division each. However, in Eastern Plain areas the Forest Divisions are co-terminus with the districts.

The Wildlife Wing is headed by Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Chief wildlife warden of the state manages 17% of the forest area of the State designated as Protected Area comprising National Parks and Sanctuaries.

Karnataka has 5 National Parks and 21 Wildlife Sanctuaries.

The Social Forestry Unit of the Department is headed by a Chief Conservator of Forests at State level.

The jurisdiction of SF Divisions and Ranges is co terminus with district and taluk boundary respectively.

A Deputy Conservator of Forests heading the Social Forestry Division works under the administrative control of the Zilla Panchayat of the district and the technical control of the territorial Conservator of Forests.

The Social Forestry Units will be implementing the Social Forestry Programs over non-forest lands and Externally Aided Projects under JBIC.

This Unit is headed by an Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (EWPRT). He is assisted by a Chief Conservator of Forests (Working Plan), Chief Conservator of Forests (Research & Utilisation), Chief Conservator of Forests (Training) and Chief Conservator of Forests (Evaluation).

The main task of the Working Plan Unit is to prepare Working Plan(WP) for a Forest Division with a 10 year periodicity. A WP is a written document giving prescriptions for scientific management of forests. The WP Unit is also responsible for taking up Survey and Demarcation of the forest areas as and when they are notified as Reserved Forests from various categories of lands.

There are 6 Working Plan units viz., Shimoga, Belgaum, Mysore, Bellary, Chickmagalur and Dharwad. A WP Division is headed by a Conservator of Forest (Working Plan).

The Chief Conservator of Forests (Research & Utilisation) is responsible for conducting Research works of the Forest Department. There are 4 Silviculturists at Bangalore, Bellary, Madikeri and Dharwad respectively, each headed by a Conservator of Forests. The task of a Conservator of Forests (Research) is to conduct research in the field of forest management, tree improvement, canopy manipulation and plantation management and to share their research findings with the field foresters.

Besides this the Chief Conservator of Forests(Training) is responsible for imparting both foundation training and in-service training being conducted in 5 Training Institutes of which two are headed by Deputy Conservator of Forests and three by Assistant Conservator of Forests. Chief Conservator of Forests(Evaluation) is responsible for Evaluation of Field works in the Dept.