Management Units in Ontario

What are Management Units?

Ontario’s Crown forest is divided into geographic planning areas, known as management units, for the purposes of forest management. Most of these management units are managed by individual forest companies under a Sustainable Forest Licence (SFL). The SFL holder is responsible for carrying out the following activities subject to Ministry of Natural Resources regulations and approvals:

• forest management planning
• harvest
• access road construction
• forest renewal and maintenance
• monitoring and reporting

Before any forestry activities can take place in a management unit, there must be an approved forest management plan in place for each management unit.

Management Unit Listings 

The list of management units, forest management plan renewal schedules and maps are prepared annually as part of Condition #1 (d) of the Class Environmental Assessment Approval for Forest Management on Crown Lands in Ontario (2003).

To assist in the delivery of new directions in forest management and to be efficient in forest management planning, the Ministry of Natural Resources is reducing the total number of individual management units through amalgamation. Anticipated amalgamations are noted on the Forest Management Plan Renewal Schedules. Management unit names and numbers will change as these amalgamations occur. 

For information on a specific management unit or forest management plan, please contact the District Manager at a local Ministry of Natural Resources office.

For general information on forest management planning contact:

Forest Management Planning Section
Forests Branch
70 Foster Drive, Suite 400
Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 6L9

Telephone: (705) 945-6708