Black Spruce Gear was created to provide trekkers with a viable alternative to camp stoves which use gas, naptha, butane, propane and other fuel products. The unnecessary use of these fuels, their non-refillable containers, and their negative environmental impact spawned the idea of the Black Spruce Gear company and the design of its eco-friendly products.

Inspiration for the design of a lightweight eco-friendly firebox/campstove came during a 25-day trip down the Snake River in the Yukon territory and from the difficulties encountered in transporting fuel bottles on commercial flights; purchasing the fuel and containers locally; portaging the fuel and containers; and then disposing or reusing the empty containers.

The design criteria was a stove that would: be lightweight; pack into a small carrying case; sized for 4-6 trekkers and use small sticks and branches in an efficient manner.

There's a plethora of stoves out there that trekkers are currently using. I wanted mine to incorporate the best design and environmental elements in a single unit. Design concepts utilized by M.J. Eberhart (Nomad stoves), Bill Mason inspired fireboxes and others, were fused with my own elements to produce the Black Spruce Gear environmental firebox/stove.

The first prototypes were built and field tested in the spring and summer of 2008.