STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.
By Erika Rolling
Economic Report

2020 report shows $4.3 billion in GDP from northwest Alberta forestry operations

Jul 7, 2022 | 3:24 PM

The Alberta Forest Products Association has released an economic report for the province’s forestry sector in 2020.

It says $13.6 billion in economic output, $2.7 billion in labour income, and more than 31,500 jobs were contributed by the forestry sector in Alberta in 2020 according to the report done by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Grande Prairie-Peace River-Athabasca region generated $4.3 billion in GDP that year, 28 per cent of the entire sector’s GDP.

The region had 57 per cent of the province’s forestry operations and over 6,600 related jobs during the pandemic year.

Brock Mulligan, Senior VP with the AFPA, says our region is prime for this sector.

“The forest industry in northwestern Alberta is something that’s multigenerational. It’s really an ideal place to operate. It’s got extremely well-suited forests for making different types of products, a highly talented and skilled workforce, and very supportive communities.”

Not only do communities surrounding forestry operations support them, but in 2020 many companies gave back to them during the pandemic.

  • International Paper gifted two Grande Prairie high schools with feminine hygiene kits for students in need
  • Weyerhaeuser Grande Prairie made donations to the Grande Prairie Hospice Palliative Care Society, the Babies Best Start Program, and the Salvation Army Food Bank and Community Kitchen.
  • International Paper’s $95,000 Grant Fund was shared among eight community organizations; representing health and wellness, education, and hunger relief initiatives.
  • West Fraser’s Slave Lake Pulp donated masks and supplies to front-line healthcare workers

“Companies know that having a supportive community is everything. They’re the places where we live and work and where we draw our workforce from as well. We know that 2020 in the heart of Covid was a difficult time for a lot of communities, for folks in the community… and our industry stepped up and saw that it was important and people in need,” Mulligan says.

Both 2020 and 2021 saw record prices for softwood lumber. Mulligan says even though prices are dipping back to reasonable levels, they continue to be strong.

“Coming out of the pandemic we have definitely seen prices level off. I mean they were at levels that we knew weren’t sustainable, so they’ve come down. Where they are right now is certainly at a level that’s comfortable for our industry.”

“Now that we’ve seen prices come down, we are starting to see more projects that had to be shelved because the prices were so high now go forward, so that’s a good thing for everyone,” he notes.

According to the report, wood product manufacturing (softwood lumber, plywood, veneers, etc.) accounted for over $2 billion of economic output in the Grande Prairie-Peace River-Athabasca region.

In 2020, forestry in the Grande Prairie population centre:

  • Employed 2,706 workers
  • $221 million in labour income
  • $225 million in economic output
by Erika Rolling