Bird Airport

Economic reasons. The airport, located in Bird, Manitoba (not California), served the community established to support the Fox Mine, a copper-zinc operation run by Sherritt Gordon Mines. When the mine ceased operations and closed permanently in 1985, the supporting townsite was abandoned, eliminating the need for the airstrip.

The airport is abandoned and non-operational. The identifier CA-0050 is a private/unofficial code used in some databases to mark the location, not an official ICAO code. Satellite imagery of the coordinates reveals a clearly defined but heavily overgrown runway that is slowly being reclaimed by the boreal forest. There are no remaining airport structures, and the site is unused and inaccessible for any aviation purposes.

Bird Airport was a vital transportation link for the remote Fox Mine and its associated settlement. It was a classic northern Canadian bush strip, likely with a gravel runway, essential for connecting the isolated community to larger centres like Lynn Lake and Thompson. Operations primarily consisted of transporting personnel, equipment, supplies, and facilitating medical evacuations. It would have accommodated STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) aircraft, such as the de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver and DHC-3 Otter, which are staples of northern aviation. The airport's existence was entirely dependent on the mining operation it served.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the airport. The primary reason for its existence—the Fox Mine and the community of Bird—no longer exist. Without a new, significant economic development such as the opening of another mine in the immediate vicinity, there is no practical or economic justification for its reactivation.