Investing in forests provides long-term ecological, social, and economic benefits to forests, forestland owners, and society. However, small-scale family-owned forests (10 to 49 acres) in the Lake States (Mich., Minn., and Wis.) lack readily available passive resources to approximate the cost of managing their forestland; such information is accessible in other regions of the United States. To close the knowledge gap, an online survey was distributed to forest practitioners in 2022 to capture the cost of 21 forest management practices following an accounting approach. The survey results were analyzed through a break-even analysis and used to develop the Lake States Forest Management Activity Cost Guide. This publicly available online dashboard provides information to encourage transparent dialogue between forest practitioners and small-scale family forest owners. Monitoring and reporting changes in management costs remain essential for forest managers to plan for costs, provide data for future meta-analyses, and guide economic policy promoting ecosystems sustainably and a leading forest product economic sector within the Lake States region.