Tourism becomes vital economic driver for town. (Communities of the North: Atikokan).The ongoing softwood softwood Timber obtained from coniferous trees (mainly of the pine and fir families). With the exception of bald cypress, tamarack, and larch, softwood trees are evergreens. lumber dispute between Canada and the U.S. is threatening to have a direct impact on the small town of Atikokan, located 2,000 kilometres west of Thunder Bay Thunder Bay, city (1991 pop. 113,946), SW Ont., Canada, on Thunder Bay inlet of Lake Superior. The city was created in 1970 by the amalgamation of the twin cities of Fort William and Port Arthur and two adjoining townships. and home to approximately 4,000 northerners. "We are a little cautious about the softwood lumber dispute," says Dennis Brown, mayor of Atikokan. "The longer it goes on, the more negative influence it will have on our community. Sixty-two per cent of our economy is based on the woods industry. We certainly need to have that industry continue on in a thriving manner." Atikokan's primary employer, Atikokan Forest Products, employs about 250 people at its sawmill sawmill, installation or facility in which cut logs are sawed into standard-sized boards and timbers. The saws used in such an installation are generally of three types: the circular saw, which consists of a disk with teeth around its edge; the band saw, which and planing mill. Since 1946, the mill has supplied markets in the Midwest U.S. and California with wood. Fortunately for the town, its tourism and technology sectors are quickly improving and reducing the town's dependence on the forest industry. "The community has been under a little bit of a refocus Verb 1. refocus - focus once again; The physicist refocused the light beam" focus - cause to converge on or toward a central point; "Focus the light on this image" 2. the last couple of years," says Warren Paulson, the town manager. "We are still primarily resource-based, always have been and probably always Will be, but tourism is becoming much stronger as an economic force in the community." Brown also agrees that the town has shifted its focus towards tourism. "There is an increase in tourism-related activities here," says Brown. "We are constantly working on that and trying to make use of Quetico Park. That is one of the things that assists tremendously in our tourism." Quetico Provincial Park Quetico Provincial Park is a large wilderness park in northwestern Ontario, Canada, renowned for its excellent canoeing and fishing. This 4,760 km². (1.18 million acre) park shares its southern border with Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness which is part of the is an internationally renowned canoeing area of over 4,655 square kilometres Square kilometre (U.S. spelling: square kilometer), symbol km², is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of surface area, the square metre, one of the SI derived units. 1 km² is equal to:
Provincial Park A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park under the management of a provincial or territrorial government in Canada. While provincial parks are not the same as national parks, their workings are very similar. , Atikokan covers 9,000 square kilometres of lakes and wilderness. Meanwhile, the town's technology sector is thriving as well, says Brown. In fact, Atikokan opened up a new call centre in August. Brown indicates that the call centre, which created 10 new positions with the potential to expand even more, is doing quite well. In addition, the mayor points out that the town implemented upgraded fibre optics fibre optics Thin transparent fibres of glass or plastic that transmit light through their length by internal reflections, used for transmitting data, voice, and images. , which allows for videoconferencing A real time video session between two or more users or between two or more locations. Although the first videoconferencing was done with traditional analog TV and satellites, inhouse room systems became popular in the early 1980s after Compression Labs pioneered digitized video systems and cellular telephones. However, Brown does indicate that the town is encountering a problem getting the fibre optics implemented throughout the community. He says they have implemented it up to Atikokan, but not yet throughout the entire town. Consequently, the mayor says more-private-sector support is needed to solve the problem. "If we have the proper fibre optics equipment here, people can sit here and do their jobs as well as they can in downtown Toronto Downtown Toronto is the heart of the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately bounded by Bloor Street (including areas slightly north of Bloor around Yonge Street) to the north, Lake Ontario to the south, Bayview Avenue - Don Valley Parkway to the east, and Bathurst , and that is very important." Another new store, McLeod's Hardware, was set to open in on Nov. 12. The opening is expected to create two or three new jobs. Although that does not seem like very much, Brown believes any new jobs invigorate in·vig·or·ate tr.v. in·vig·or·at·ed, in·vig·or·at·ing, in·vig·or·ates To impart vigor, strength, or vitality to; animate: "A few whiffs of the raw, strong scent of phlox invigorated her" the town's citizens and give them hope for the future. "It's only two or three jobs, but it projects an air of opportunity about Atikokan whenever there is a new facility opening up," he says. "Atikokan has everything we need," he says. "We have it all. We have recreational facilities Noun 1. recreational facility - a public facility for recreation recreation facility facility, installation - a building or place that provides a particular service or is used for a particular industry; "the assembly plant is an enormous facility" , we have a good health-care system, a good education system, and the infrastructure is here. We just have to work at maintaining it and upgrading it." However, since becoming mayor five. years ago, Brown says he has encountered several obstacles. "I think our greatest obstacle is that we need more people and more jobs to pay for the services we have," he says. "We are like a lot of communities of the North where the population is declining with the migration of youth. We need to reverse that somehow. We need meaningful jobs, good paying jobs, profitable jobs, but we just need more people." During the late 1970s the town saw a lot of its citizens leave as a result of the closure of its two iron-ore mines. Today, it is home to over 250 businesses, many of them home-based. Atikokan is also a haven for outdoor lovers. It offers 700 kilometres of groomed snowmobile snowmobile, vehicle designed to travel over snow, ice, and similar surfaces that offer limited traction and weight-supporting capability. As the performance of the vehicle depends to a large extent on keeping its weight as low as possible, there is no enclosure for trails and 30 kilometres of cross-country ski trails in the winter. Atikokan also has mountain bike trails and a golf course.
ATIKOKAN
Population 3,400
Main Employer/ Atikokan Forest Products
Private Sector
Top 5 Employers Atikokan Forest Products, Proboard
Manufacturing, Fort Frances/Rainy
River District Board of Education,
Atikokan General Hospital, Ontario
Power Generation
Area of Community 9000 sq. km
Municipal Tax Rates commercial occupied-0.05155564
(base average) industrial occupied-0.04845341
Commercial real estate not available
market: what is it like?
Land Values not available
Industrial Park serviced industrial mall, space
(serviced or unserviced) available
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