Last week it was postcards, this week my passion switches to logging roads.
There are reasons. There’s a lot to learn.
We tend to take these roads for granted as an inherent right of access to Crown land.
Their importance was recently reinforced when, just before the first snowfall, we travelled on one of the longest continuous and scenic forestry roads in the province.
Ontario’s forest industry is critical to the provincial economy and many northern and rural communities. In 2023, the forest industry contributed $5.4 billion to Ontario's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and generated $21.6 billion in total revenue. The sector supported approximately 128,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs in 2024, many of which are in Indigenous, rural, and northern communities.
Recently, Catherine Fife, NDP MPP (Waterloo), (Shadow Minister for Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade) said, “Ontario’s forestry sector is vital to the provincial economy, providing thousands of jobs directly, supplying the lumber that builds our homes, and supporting construction and manufacturing jobs. While British Columbia fights hard to defend their industry, Ontario workers are being left behind. We need tariff relief, investment in modernization, and a strategy that keeps Ontario lumber in Ontario homes.”
How important are these roads to the above statement? I made contact with the Ontario Forest Industries Association (OFIA). The trade association represents Ontario's forest products sector.
Adrian Smith is the OFIA Policy Advisor. She sent her thoughts on the OG back roads.
"Forest access roads, often called 'logging roads,' serve far more than the forestry sector. Built and maintained by our sector, they provide vital infrastructure for all Ontarians. Each year, forestry companies invest millions of dollars in grading, resurfacing, bridge and culvert upkeep, and winter snow clearing to keep this extensive network safe and reliable.
“These roads are critical economic lifelines, connecting forests to pulp mills and sawmills across Ontario. In many regions, logs travel almost exclusively on forest roads, only spending a short amount of time on paved highways. Because transport costs are the single largest driver of raw material expenses for our members, maintaining this network is essential to the sector’s viability.
“We thank the Government of Ontario for their commitment to supporting public forest access roads through ongoing funding, in recognition of the vital role our members play – not only in sustainable forest management, but also in maintaining a road network relied upon by hunters, anglers, adventurers, first responders, communities, and other industries operating on Crown lands."
In essence - no logging roads…no mills. And how would we get to that remote fishing lake or canoe route access point?
The roads
Who is responsible for the myriad of roads that form a spider web on Crown land? From my query to the MNR’s Kavithaa Kandasamy, Editor/Writer, she contributed this.
“Sustainable Forest Licence (SFL) and Forest Resource Licence (FRL) holders on Crown management units are responsible for the construction, maintenance and monitoring of forest roads as part of their licence conditions and approved forest management plans.”
SFL and FRL holders (like cooperatives) have the responsibility to manage a specific area of Crown forest for up to 20 years. These license holders are required to prepare forest management plans, renew forests after harvesting, and monitor compliance with provincial regulations.
The Provincial Forest Access Roads Funding Program reimburses the forest industry for the government’s proportional share of the costs to build and maintain public access roads in Crown forests.
“The program supports the maintenance of more than 19,300 kilometres of forest access roads each year and, since its inception, has provided more than $1 billion in funding for the construction and maintenance of these roads," she said.
The Crown Forest Sustainability Act (1994) states that the Minister of the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry (MNDMNRF) shall ensure that a Forest Management Plan (FMP) is prepared when a Crown forest operation is being conducted. An FMP is a legal and binding document that serves as a contract for the implementation of forest operations on Crown land.
The FMP will include maintenance standards required for the primary, secondary and tertiary roads used to access harvest blocks. These forest roads are 'highways' (as defined in the Highway Traffic Act) according to the definition of a public forest road in the Public Lands Act. There are also ‘industrial roads.’
The private sector manages the forest. The government oversees the FMPs.
Under Part VI of the Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act, the Minister may designate an industrial road or a private road that he or she considers necessary for the development or operation of the lumber, pulp, or mining industry, but which, in his or her opinion, should also be used by the public for road purposes other than those of the industry.
So, there are two interesting designations of 'industrial' roads in Northern Ontario: the Sultan and Caramat Industrial Roads. The Sultan Industrial Rd. connects Highway 144 at the 'height of land' and Highway 560 (Sultan) to Chapleau and Highways 129 and 101. It is a great shortcut to get to Wawa and westward. Further west, the Caramat Industrial Road, in essence, connects Longlac just west of Caramat, Highway 625 (Highway 11) and Manitouwadge, Highway 614 to Highway 17.
Then there are the various types of logging roads.
We know the public enjoys the benefits of forestry access roads or 'logging roads' constructed and maintained by the forest industry. However, access may be controlled (e.g., for safety or to protect sensitive values) or roads may be decommissioned when no longer needed by the forest industry.
Within the FMP Manual, it classifies roads as primary, branch or operational."
Primary roads provide principal access to a management unit and are normally permanent.
Branch roads branch off a primary road and provide access to, through or between a geographic area comprised of harvest, renewal and tending operations.
Operational roads provide short-term access, are usually not maintained after their use and are most often site prepared and rehabilitated.
There is a source to view all logging roads in Ontario. It is indeed a myriad, if not a spider web of sorts.
Just so you know, once a road is no longer used for forestry purposes, it no longer has a classification. That’s why you see those “not maintained beyond this point signs.”
While forest access roads in Crown forests are owned by the Crown, construction and maintenance of these roads are the responsibility of those SFL holders through their obligations under approved forest management plans.
Scott McPherson was the General Manager of Nipissing Forest, one of the first SFLs in the province. He is now an analyst with the Forest Resource Management Group. a leading geospatial technology company providing solutions for forest management, carbon, and wildfire risk.
He started by saying.
“Yes, logging roads are an interesting topic - love them or hate them, they are often a topic of conversation.
“Forest access roads are, of course, important to the industries that build and maintain them because they provide the essential arteries to move wood to mills and workers and machinery to work sites, as well as providing access for forest renewal activities, monitoring and enforcement, and fire suppression. And many other users depend on those roads for a multitude of reasons as well, so they really provide critical infrastructure across the north. Many roads are used only temporarily or seasonally, while others are used year-round for extended periods of time. As such, these long-term, primary roads represent a significant investment that will provide benefits to a wide range of users for generations.”
I asked him about a favourite logging road.
“I don't really have a favourite logging road, but I really enjoy driving through forests and being able to appreciate all the amazing scenery and wildlife, and re-visiting areas where I have worked, camped, snowshoed, etc. It really is a great privilege to have access to such a large and diverse forested area.”
The public benefits
George Graham recently sold Thunderhouse Forestry, specializing in reforestation. That concluded 40 years of experience within the boreal forest.
“It is obvious we need wood for the mills, but logging roads serve many purposes,” he said.
“Reforestation is to regrow the forest we want for the future. We can move planters and seedlings by helicopter or boat if needed for small and remote sites, but not overall for the expansive programs we run to keep up with the harvest. A road network is needed.”
He said they get pickups and school buses on site, as well as transport trucks full of tree seedlings.
“In Hearst, we plant 5 to 7 million trees a year. One transport only carries 200,000 seedlings.”
Roads are needed to assess the trees (technicians walking planted land) and to move the tending crews with helicopters and tanker trucks.
Still later, 20-30 years after planting, the forest can benefit from thinning. Spacing trees farther apart grows them faster by reducing competition for sunlight, nutrients and water. Black spruce, a mainstay of the Boreal forest industry, is especially susceptible to moisture stress brought on by longer, drier summers expected with climate change. Thinning may become vital to see black spruce forests reach maturity.
And then there is protection from fire and insects.
"While lightning fire is now predicted with a high degree of reliability and insect infestations can be monitored from aircraft - when outbreaks occur, we still need to put people and equipment on the ground," Graham said. "Roads make that fast and easy. Both fire and insect outbreaks are expected to rise as our forests become weakened by climate change stresses."
The importance of such roads?
"Our way of life in the north, as it does elsewhere today, depends in large measure on roads," said Graham. "The difference in the north is most of our roads are in public forest, as opposed to municipal or county roads through private land."
The cost of such? Primary roads can cost $35-50,000 per kilometre. Branch roads, $12-20,000 per kilometre. The investment is considerable.
They are also used for tourism, recreation, hunting, angling, berry picking, firewood, exercise, cottages, foraging and a couple of others.
“Forest access roads for prospecting and early-stage mine development - important economic diversification sought by many northern resource-dependent communities. Prospectors use whatever roads they can to get as close as possible to their target area. Alternative means of access tend to be much costlier, eg, a helicopter. It's likely impossible to know how many mineral deposits were identified, and new mines got their start from logging roads in Ontario!
“For example, just on the Hearst Forest, significant deposits (graphite, phosphate) are setting up for advanced exploration from existing forestry roads. The Oba region is experiencing ongoing exploration for gold and other minerals, largely from the old network of logging roads and trails.
He also identified trappers. “They rely heavily on forest access roads to manage furbearer populations. I found it ironic, yet understandable, that trappers often sought to delay or avoid having sections of their trapline logged, yet welcomed building new roads that offered more direct access to various regions of their line. Over time, as a trapline became roaded and harvested sections reforested, conditions developed where the trapline offered both excellent access and suitable trapping habitats. Of course, like so much in managing a forest, how do we get into the future, while using the forest for the green products and ecological services that we all need? The disruption takes a long time to overcome with the speed that trees grow at.”
George put the road investment into perspective. “Ontario’s share of construction costs for logging roads is about $60 million ($79 million this year), a sizeable investment in public infrastructure.
“There are also constant pressures to remove roads after harvesting is done, and young forest is set in motion to regrow, raising concern among road users. The pressures are often short-term; to eliminate the cost of maintaining culverts, to prevent bridge liabilities. Facing the realities of Climate Change, ie, increased fire, insect and pathogen risk and need to alleviate those risks through silvicultural interventions, I think more consideration is needed beyond the short term before logging roads are decommissioned.”
Safety first
John McNutt is the Woodlands Manager for Goulard Lumber (1971) Ltd., a sawmill that started in 1947 in Sturgeon Falls (West Nipissing). He said the following about public use of logging roads. He is on the board of two SFLs (Vermilion and Westwind).
“The public should know that they can use any road on Crown land that is not signed as restricted due to ongoing or past resource extraction activity, land-use designations or wildlife management objectives.”
He stated, “The public should also know that Forest Access Roads are available for their use on a use-at-your-own-risk basis, as the roads and water-crossing structures are not regularly maintained.
Something to always keep in mind. “Unlike city or highway roads, forest access roads are built to a lower standard and maintained less frequently and intensely. They are usually narrow, winding, and hilly with blind corners and poor sight lines. The corners are not banked and present obstacles like fallen trees or washouts frequently. Beaver activity is never hard to find. There is little, if any, signage on these roads.”
While many different types of vehicles use these roads, the remoteness means that cellular coverage is likely sporadic and some roads may be posted as having industrial traffic controlled by two-way radios to communicate their position and direction of travel.
Yield and drive safely.
The west branch
Finally, the logging road trek.
It was not a Sunday drive, but a Friday one on October 26.
Early start, first light, fall, but you know winter is coming.
You see the entrance to the SPANISH FOREST and Interfor (one of the world’s largest forest products companies) signs at about 6 km from Highway 17, at the west end of Agnew Lake.
At first light, you see the tamarack with their golden fall wardrobes on, they come alive. Such natural beauty.
The West Branch, as it is called, runs north from Webbwood (the home of Barbara Hanley, Canada’s first woman mayor, 1936-1944 – just west of Espanola), 160 km to Ramsay (near Biscotasing) just off of the Sultan Industrial Road. It is a forestry silvicultural drive with lots to see in the way of reforestation, operations and harvesting prescriptions. You will be far away from Timmies, Wi-Fi and stoplights. So, pack some snacks. The first restaurant north is the Height of Land Restaurant on Hwy. 144 hours away.
Gordon’s Chutes is a must-see at km 36 along the Wakonassin River, which joins the Spanish River. In fact, you will see the river many times along the way, great viewing. On most logging roads, you tend to see little water. The West Branch is an exception.
At about 50 km, you start to transition into a more boreal forest, and there’s more Jack pine evident. There’s a turnoff to Ritchie Falls at km 66, which would take you back on a loop to Massey. Some high bedrock hills are in sight. At km 69, there is the S&S logging camp with skidders and haul trucks, with those vertical blades or tines where the logs stay put, and long white accommodation trailers. You can hear a large diesel generator in the background.
Moose hunting season is on, and you see a homemade welcome sign to the ‘Old Buddies’ camp. There’s a preponderance of glacial erratics between 86-91 km.
At km 108, you could turn right or east (45 km) and end up on Hwy. 144, via the Metagama Rd., just south of the watershed highway sign, this crosses the Spanish River.
About 20 km beyond, you cross the Mississagi River. Here we encounter a hunt camp village of older models-back roads’ trailers (used RVs), and interesting protective weather tarp configurations. Clothing-wise, there’s that culture of orange regalia and camouflage here. It looks like a Cabela’s or a Bass Pro catalogue.
Woodsmoke is a welcoming indication. We engage a few gun-toting hunters, and they are from faraway places in southern Ontario, like Welland, people who have made this a destination for years – it’s a right of passage. Inside one of the self-fashioned shelters, Brian asks, “How’s the fishin’ and huntin’ going?” The classic response, early in the afternoon, “Not very good in here.” They’re content. You sense the camaraderie and social interaction of that time of the year. We drive on.
At km 117, you see a new connecting loop called the Beartrack Crossover sign. The road narrows for about 10 km until it reaches the other end of the Beartrack loop. There’s a great view of Cortez Lake along the way. But the entire road is in excellent driving shape, well-maintained for now.
The passing scenery, the continuous beauty, is within the colour palette of all those trees. It is somewhere between the definitions of meditative and mesmerizing.
The next thing is you arrive at the final 160 km sign just before crossing the CPR tracks at the Village of Ramsay, almost a ghost town, except for seasonal residents. It is an unincorporated area established in 1937 for gold mine workers. The original community was eventually abandoned after the local sawmill shut down in 1987, and the townsite was fully dismantled by 2002. It currently has no full-time residents. Then 10 km to the Sultan Industrial Road, where you can go west to Chapleau or east to Highway 144. So, there is a loop to do this north-south as you wish.
What does Brian think?
“Just like the drifts, tunnels, portals used to access the resources underground, logging roads are there to access the above-ground timber resources,” said the cohort from Timmins, who is always along for the ride with Back Roads Bill. “The West Branch road has been there for as long as I can remember and has been the lifeline for mills in Espanola (closed), Nairn Centre and Gogama.” We crossed 12 single-lane bridges and six large water crossing culverts along the way.
Here is the map link, including some other logging roads for good measure.
Logging roads
This is not Tripadvisor, but this jaunt is recommended. (Depending on the activity at the mills, most likely it is open all winter.) One of the most picturesque of all logging roads.
What’s your favourite logging road? Reach out with a seasonal greeting or postcard and tell me so.
If it weren’t for logging roads, there would be no Back Roads Bill. True.
