Algoma & District

Black Bird Management

Black Bird is an Ontario based corporation that has been managing the forestland holdings of
Astina Forest AG (Astina) since 2016. The team at Black Bird manages Astina’s 60,000 acres in a
sustainable manner through its Maple Products and Forestry divisions.
CEO – Pat Rosebrook
Chief of Operations (maple products) – Clyde Bridge
Chief of Operations (forestry) – Pat Rosebrook
In 2017, a feasibility study was conducted by ownership in collaboration with Pat Rosebrook
and Clyde Bridge. A short-list of proposed sites that provided optimal sugar bush potential was
narrowed down to the Harmony River Valley, located in Goulais River, Ontario.
Sugar bush installation broke ground in late 2018 while construction of our 20,000 square foot
processing facility started in spring 2019. Our first year of production was the 2020 sugaring
season when we had 81,000 taps installed.
We will continue to expand until all trees that flow by ‘gravity’ to our facility are tapped. Our
trees consist of 85% hard maples and 15% soft maples. Once complete, we will have 2000 acres
tapped (140,000 trees) which all flow to a single pump house (room) located in our main
facility. To date we have 115,000 taps installed and will be producing with 120,000 taps during
the 2022 sugaring season.
We use 1/4 “spouts, 5/16” laterals and 1”- 1-1/4” mainlines. The mainlines run into conductor
lines up to 4” in diameter. All conductor lines are buried underground and gradually slope to
our production facility. Our only pump house is located in the basement of our facility and
houses all of our extractors and vacuum pumps. The sap is pumped and stored in open tanks
located in the facility and/or in 4 silos located outside. We will have approximately 550,000
litres of sap storage capacity for the 2022 sugaring season. Reverse osmosis is used and we
concentrate anywhere from 18 to 32 brix depending on many factors. We use two 7’x18’
propane-fired evaporators.

Black Bird currently produces bulk maple syrup. However, we are actively looking at value-
added products and innovative ideas from the industry.

Our first season started right around the Covid19 outbreak so it has been quiet at our sugaring
operation. I suspect in the future it will get busier. We are always open for fellow OMSPA
members and the public to view our operation. We always have and always will continue to
share with our fellow producers the strengths/weaknesses of our operation to help better the
maple syrup production in Ontario. The members of OMSPA provided us with a vast amount of
knowledge in our early days which helped with our success.
A few highlights for younger generations concerning our operation is that the entire
management team from our initial feasibility through production was in their 30’s and our first
year of production with 80,000 taps was completed with only one year of prior sugaring
experience with no outside help during the first season as well.