The importance of our forests to the province’s future has never been more apparent. Ontario has the opportunity to strengthen its position as a leading global forest jurisdiction known for:
- Sustainable management of a world class forest asset;
- An innovative, diversified and competitive forest sector.
As the sector evolves to embrace the emerging bio-economy and green technologies, it must also keep pace with industry changes around the world. Change and innovation are taking place – not only in our increasingly high-tech sawmills, veneer plant and pulp and paper mills, but also through rapid innovation in the use of wood fibre. Ontario’s forests have become the source for cutting-edge products and services like engineered wood for buildings, bio products and new green energy solutions.
Sustainable Forest Licences
Sustainable Forest Licences (SFLs) give the holder of the licence the right to harvest and use the forest resources available on a management unit. Access a complete list of current SFLs.
Mills in Ontario
Access a list of Forest Resource Processing Facilities (mills) in Ontario as of April 1, 2012, that have processed on average, more than 1,000 cubic metres of Crown wood per year.
Forest Industry Maps
Forest Industry mapping sources include location and types of major forest resource processing facilities; communities dependent on forestry and more.
Many Ontario communities depend on forests. Forest resources provide employment, socio economic benefits and government revenue, both for the short-term and long-term. Therefore, the supply of sustainable forest resources for commercial use is particularly important to the economic well-being of communities and the province of Ontario.
Industry Facts
- The Area of the Undertaking (AOU), where most forest management activities on Crown land occur, totals 36.4 million hectares of forest. Productive forest on Crown land in the AOU covers about 27.2 million hectares.
- Of the 71 million hectares of forested land in Ontario, fifty-seven million, or 80 per cent, are publicly owned and known as Crown forest. Approximately 20 per cent of the forested land in Ontario is held in other types of ownerships (private, First Nations, and Federal). The Government of Ontario oversees the management of Crown Forests, including commercial logging (harvesting) on over 27 million hectares.
In 2011, the value of Ontario's forestry sector (total shipment revenues of primary and secondary wood products) was $11.9 billion. - the majority of which was pulp and paper products ($7.03 billion).
- Sawmill, engineered wood and other wood product manufacturing was valued at $3.11 billion and,
- value-added furniture/kitchen cabinet manufacturing represented $1.76 billion.
- The Crown Forest Sustainability Act (CFSA) provides for the granting of licences for harvesting forest resources on managed Crown forest lands. The majority of Ontario’s forests are harvested by companies or individual operators that hold one of two types of forest resource licences (Forest Resource Licences and Sustainable Forest Licences). In 2009/10, there were a total of 3,881 licences in place in Ontario.
- Harvesting activities took place on 99,464 hectares of forest in 2009/10, generating approximately 10.6 million cubic metres of wood.
- In 2009/10 The government of Ontario received a total of approximately $68 million from timber sales, of which approximately $50.8 million went directly to funds designated for the maintenance and renewal of the forest, and for work associated with ensuring the future of the forest.
- The recent downturn in the economy has seen the demand for Crown forest resources decrease over the last several years from a high of 24 million cubic metres in 2002/2003 to a low of 10.5 million cubic metres in 2009/2010. The figure below shows the annual utilization of Crown resources over the last ten years.
Source: Timber Resource Evaluation System (TREES)
