Priest River National Forest was established as the Priest River Forest Reserve by the United States General Land Office in Idaho and Washington on February 22, 1897 with . After the transfer of federal forests to the U.S. Forest Service in 1905,it became a National Forest on March 4, 1907. On July 1, 1908 the entire forest was divided to establish Kaniksu National Forest and Pend Oreille National Forest and the name was discontinued.