Rayonier Advanced Materials’ Huntsville Sawmill and Forestry Division Changes Hands

On October 19th, 2020, Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) announced the sale of its Huntsville Sawmill and Forestry Division to Huntsville Forest Products Inc. (HFPI).

RYAM’s Huntsville sawmill was one of the company’s two south-central Ontario operations. They have served as an active member in the region’s forest management since the late 1990s.

“We are very grateful to RYAM for their continued support over the past several years and wish them all the best in their future endeavours,” said Rob Keen, RPF and Chair of the Westwind Forest Stewardship Board. “We are also extremely pleased with the acquisition of the Huntsville mill by HFPI and happily welcome having a local family-owned forestry company operating in the French-Severn Forest.”

HFPI is a subsidiary of Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve (Haliburton Forest), a company which comprises of recreation, research, education, and forestry facilities. Following the sale, Haliburton Forest will have the largest wood allocation in the French-Severn Forest and the production capacity of 40 million fbm of hardwood lumber annually. In addition to supporting more than 100 local jobs plus an equivalent number of contactors, Haliburton Forest will contribute to the management of regional hardwood forests.

"This is a major step forward for our business. We hope to bring the same land ethic and processing discipline from our other operations to Huntsville, while learning from the talented staff that gained many years of experience working with Tembec and RYAM,” said Malcom-Cecil Cockwell, RPF and Managing Director of Haliburton Forest. “We believe Huntsville will prove to be a leading hardwood processing facility – not only in Ontario, but in the North American hardwood forest products sector."

Westwind Forest Stewardship Inc. is a not-for-profit, community-based company that holds the Sustainable Forest License for Crown land in the French-Severn Forest.