Ontario Supporting Community Access and Forestry Roads
Ontario is improving access to Crown lands by investing in community access and forest roads, allowing for improved forestry management and increased economic opportunities for remote communities.
The forestry industry uses community access and forestry roads for their operations, including harvesting and reforestation on Crown lands. The province, in partnership with forest companies and local operators, carefully plan and maintain a combination of primary and secondary access roads throughout Ontario.
Community access and forestry roads are a vital component of the infrastructure used to access Crown lands. These roads benefit a wide range of communities and groups by providing access to some of the most remote areas of the province, increasing economic opportunity, including:
- Indigenous and local communities
- Mining, utility and railway companies
- Tourism operators
- Hunters, anglers and trappers
- Campers, cottagers and the general public.
These roads also act as crucial routes for emergency preparedness, fire response and evacuation.
Ontario’s plan to support care, create opportunity and make life more affordable during this period of rapid economic change includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25, and over 65, through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.
“These roads provide important forest operations that allow for both strategic harvest and the proactive management of the boreal forest – a defining landscape of Ontario. They also allow improved access to local and Indigenous communities, an important connection that provides opportunities such as tourism, camping, hunting and fishing. This investment demonstrates our government’s commitment to supporting the forestry industry, vital infrastructure and communities in Ontario.”
