The forest industry supplied by the Algonquin Park Forest is comprised of sawmills, hardwood veneer mills, a pole plant and pulp mills which are wholly or partly dependent on this vital source of raw material. The Algonquin Park Forest provides approximately 44% of the volume harvested annually from Crown forests in Central and Eastern Ontario.
This wood supply supports mills in communities such as Huntsville, Whitney, Madawaska, Killaloe, Pembroke, Eganville and Palmer Rapids. There are 10 mills receiving part or most of their supply from the Park on a regular basis while another 15 – 20 mills receive periodic supplies. View Mill Locationsl
There are over 285 people employed in Algonquin woods activities and over 4,000 people employed in the mills. With approximately 3 indirect jobs created for every direct job in the forest industry, over 13,000 additional jobs are created from sustainable forest management in Algonquin Provincial Park.
In 2021/2022, sales values of forest products by the Algonquin Forestry Authority were $23.3 million. Contractors engaged from communities in the region were paid $18.7 million, and AFA spent $1.7 million on forest renewal operations. The AFA had a net loss of $93,448 in 2021/2022. The AFA is financially self-sufficient with no cost to the taxpayers and works on a not-for-profit cost-recovery basis.
Based on the 2021/2022 harvest level of 364,852 m3, the Algonquin Park Forest contributed $306 million to the Ontario economy in terms of value added.
A number of forest products are produced because of the wide variety of tree species available in the Park. These include:
- Hardwood lumber for furniture, flooring and crating
- Softwood lumber for construction, paneling and finishing
- Utility poles
- Pulp and paper and packaging products
- Oriented strandboard and medium-density fibreboard
- Fuelwood and mulch
