There’s money in them there trees.
That’s what Simcoe County councillors found out this week – especially in one Midhurst-area county forest.
The county sold $555,594.97 in timber between April and August this year.
Each year, the county allows 500 to 600 hectares of its forests to be harvested, to maintain forest health. Trees harvested are sold to the highest bidder, then they are often processed locally, which sparks the local economy.
In the Toner Tract of the county forests in Springwater Township, the county harvested and sold $141,860 worth of timber.
It wasn’t a clear cutting. The money came from the value of the trees, said county forester Graeme Davis.
“It was primarily red pine, with some white pine. There was a plantation thinning and it’s high-value material,” he explained.
The buyer was Ritchie Forest Products, which was also the successful bidder for more timber from other tracts in Oro-Medonte, Springwater and Clearview townships.
Davis noted that the county received multiple bids for a lot of the timber on sale, which drove up prices.
Money raised from the felled trees goes into the county’s forest reserve, which is reinvested in forest maintenance and acquisition of additional forest lands.
Simcoe County manages about 32,000 acres in its forestry program, which began in 1922.
In the 1800s, lumber barons felled much of the county’s hard and softwood trees and when Ontario introduced a forest regeneration program, Simcoe County was one of the first to get involved, with the first trees being planted in the Henrie Tract, which is located in Springwater Township.
About half of Simcoe County forests are coniferous trees, with the remainder being naturally regenerated forests that included hemlock and white cedar.
