ALGONQUIN PARK – The Algonquin Forestry Authority (AFA) is 40 years old this year, and two local businesses were recognized with being involved with the organization since the very beginning.
Several dignitaries travelled to the Logging Museum on the east end of Algonquin Park to attend the AFA’s 40th anniversary celebration.
Jeff Leavey, the general manager of the AFA, emceed the event.
“This is a special year for Algonquin Forestry Authority as we celebrate 40 years of our role in sustainable forest management in the Algonquin Provincial Park forest,” he said.
The AFA is a crown agency responsible for sustainable forest management in the park. It works with local contractors to ensure that logging takes place in the park, and that it keeps with the Algonquin Park Management Plan and the forest management plan approved under the Crown Forest Sustainability Act.
The park supplies 40 per cent of the industrial wood supply from crown land in central Ontario. It employs hundreds of lumbermen/women and thousands of people in mills that process the wood.
The AFA was instrumental in establishing the Logging Museum 20 years ago, in conjunction with Ontario Parks and the Friends of Algonquin Park.
Get your July 29, 2015 edition of The Valley Gazette to read the full story.