The purpose of this study was to assess the evolution of private forest districts during the last decade and to explore the main challenges such entities are facing, based on the existing statistics and a nationwide survey of private forest district managers. In 2011, the 132 authorized private forest districts had under administration 1.529 million ha of non-state forests (23 percent of the total forest area of Romania), whilst in 2010 the harvested volume exceeded 5.89 million m³ and the cumulated annual turnover of the private forest districts was 107 million Euro. The managers of private forest districts face various challenges in their relationship with owners and state authorities. The significant structural transformation of the forestry sector had an important impact on the evolution of private forest districts and considering that more than 1 million ha of non-state forests are still administrated by the state, the number of private forest districts and their role in the Romanian forestry sector could increase significantly in the future.