The Indian Forest Service is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India. The other two civil service being the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. It was constituted in the year 1966 under the All India Services Act, 1951, by the Government of India.                                              The service implements the National Forest Policy in order to ensure the ecological stability of the country through the protection and participatory sustainable management of natural resources. The members of the service also manage the National Parks (NP) Tiger Reserve (TR), Wildlife Sanctuaries (WLS) and other Protected Areas (PA) of the country. A Forest Service officer is wholly independent of the district administration and exercises administrative, judicial and financial powers in their own domain. Positions in state forest department, such as District/Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Conservator of Forests (CF) , Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) etc., are held only by Forest Service officers. The highest-ranking Forest Service official in each state is the Head of Forest Forces (HoFF).

Earlier, the British Government in India had constituted the Imperial Forest Service in 1867 which functioned under the Federal Government until the Government of India Act 1935 was passed and responsibility was transferred to the provinces.

Administration of the Service is the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.