The
Maple Forest Resource at The Deakins
The Deakins 100 acre property was
originally granted to a German immigrant named Orville Getz by the Crown which
deeded the property to the Getzes in 1878 when all grant conditions were
fulfilled.
The ownership changed hands in 1906 when the
property was purchased by the Charlie Burke family. The Department of Crown
Lands at the time would have catalogued it as a maple/beech/hemlock forest. The
first records of maple syrup production date to 1910, but this fact was not verified until the year 2000 when owners Don and Mary Helen Deakin razed the
original tumble-down sugar shack and discovered newspapers used as insulation
dating back to 1910 and 1914.
By 1914 production was in full swing with
three generations of Burkes installing 1900 taps and buckets each season and
selling maple syrup as far afield as Arnprior.
Production tailed off after 1940 as a
succession of new owners acquired the property. In 1972 one of these owners
sold off 1,000 prime maple trees to the lucrative veneer market, an action
which resulted in a forest that was understocked and not viable for maple syrup
production. Left unmanaged for 30 years the competing tree species gained
dominance in the forest and regeneration of sugar maples became virtually
non-existent.
In 1998 new owners, Don and Mary Helen
Deakin, in partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources filed a
plan to rejuvenate the once highly productive forest. Ambitious measures were
adopted. A second major logging project in 2008 greatly reduced the number of
competing trees in the forest and provided much needed space and access to
sunlight for young maples to prosper. A number of in-forest plantations were
developed and six-foot tall maple whips were strategically located throughout
the forest to ensure an even distribution of trees. To support the plantations
project, a sugar maple nursery was established near the house and populated
with genetically compatible saplings transplanted from the Deakins’ forest. Ongoing planting and routine thinning are
ensuring the steady growth of the sugar maple resource. The Ontario Managed Forest Plan (OMFP) is now
in its third l cycle (est. 1999). Plan components consist of systematic review,
plan development, implementation and evaluation phases.
Today, visiting foresters consider the
Deakins a Class A forest due primarily to its biodiversity, low incidence of
disease and capacity for regeneration. Resilient and vigorous growers, the maple
trees are living up to their reputation. Nevertheless, this forest’s capacity
for sap production will still not approach 1910 levels until 2055.
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