(1) Background-By the end of 2021, the forest chief system reform has been implemented nationwide. The analysis of the provincial policies of forest chief system is not only helpful to grasp the connotation of this system, but also helpful to provide reference for each province ( autonomous region, municipality) to implement and improve the forest chief system according to local conditions. (2) Methods-Policy texts related to the forest chief system issued by the people's governments of 31 provinces ( autonomous regions and municipalities), the Forestry and Grassland Administration, the Natural Resources and Planning Bureaus and other policy bodies from January 2017 to October 2022 were collected through the website searches. Taking these policy texts as research samples, a three-dimensional analysis framework of "policy structure-policy content-policy effectiveness" of forest chief system was constructed, and quantitative analysis of policy documents was carried out from the number of issued policies, bodies of policies issue, policy tools, policy contents, policy intensities, policy objectives and policy measures. (3) Results-In terms of the number of issued policies, the number shows a fluctuating growth, and the issuance of central documents promoted the rapid growth of the number of published documents, reaching a peak of 89 in 2021 and accounting for 62. 68% of the total number of published documents during the research period. In terms of the publication bodies, the General Offices of the People's Government, the forest chief system offices and the Forestry and Grassland Administrations are the main publication bodies, accounting for 95% of the total number of publication bodies. In terms of the policy tools, they are mainly command-and-control policy tools, accounting for more than 41%, supplemented by economic incentives policy tools and public participation policy tools. In terms of the division of responsibility areas, 51. 60% of the provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) divide the forest chiefs' jurisdiction areas according to the administrative regions, 29. 00% of the provinces ( autonomous regions, municipalities) divide the forest chiefs' jurisdiction areas according to the mountain system or the origin of forest resources, the fire prevention areas and the operation areas of forest industrial enterprises, and 22. 58% of the provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) incorporate afforestation enterprises and public institutions into the forest chief organizational system. In terms of organizational structure, 70% of the provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) propose to set up the forest chief office in the competent forestry and grass departments of the government at or above the county level, and all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) mention to establish the working mechanism of multi-department cooperation. In terms of the working mechanism, 35. 48% of the provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have begun to explore and implement the mechanism of "forest chiefs + chief procurators", 41. 94% of the provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have implemented the mechanism of " forest chiefs + police chiefs", and 22.58% of the provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have implemented the mechanism of "forest chiefs + chief procurators + police chiefs". In terms of the policy effectiveness, although the policy objectives are clear, the policy effectiveness needs to be improved. It is necessary to increase the use of economic incentives policy tools and public participation policy tools in policy measures. (4) Conclusions and Discussions-Based on the above conclusions, the following policy recommendations are put forward to optimize the forest chief system. First, increase the use of economic incentives policy tools and public participation policy tools to optimize policy tools. Second, establish and refine various supporting systems, and make more clear, detailed and standard provisions for the implementation of the forest chief system according to the actual situations in different areas. Third, improve the working mechanism of forest chief system, broaden the channels of inter-departmental cooperation, and explore various ways to achieve inter-departmental collaboration. Fourth, highlight the key points of forest chief system assessment and adopt diversified assessment methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]