11/21/2023 0 Comments Maple tappingA June drought means sugar content is lower the following year, and it takes more sap to make the same amount of syrup, Parke said. Trees need rain while they're making sugar. The average age of sugar molecules in syrup is about 3.5 years, Rademacher said, but they can be up to 10 years old. Their leaves pull in sunlight and carbon dioxide and create the essential sugar molecules that could eventually wind up in a bottle of maple syrup. Trees are most active around the summer solstice, said Tim Rademacher, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Quebec who is studying the influence of weather and climate on maple trees and the sugaring industry. "I think the maples are being stressed by climate change, although it's a long-term, slow-moving process, and it's very hard to pinpoint exactly what's happening," he said.Ĭotnoir's family also has observed an earlier sugar season and more irregular temperature fluctuations in the spring, making it hard to predict when to start tapping.Įven though the sap season is over for this year, maple trees are busy preparing for next year. He also notices maple trees in the area hit their fall foliage peak later more often than they used to. Over the past three decades, he's seen a 10-day shift forward in the sugaring season, he said. He bought his 40-acre farm when he graduated high school, and he's been tapping the trees for 43 years. "It's something that got under my skin, and it's been with me my whole life. He tapped 60 trees, learning to anticipate the rise of the sap at just the right time to capture the first blush of sweetness. Traditionally packed into hand-woven birch bark cones, the sugar was lighter than syrup and easier to transport as the tribe moved on to agricultural, hunting and fishing grounds for spring and summer.Īdam Parke, owner of Windswept Farm in Barton, Vermont, answered the call of the maple trees in his family's backyard when he was in the second grade. His ancestors would heat the sap in a series of soapstone pots over fires, then pour it into a trough and move it back and forth with a wooden paddle to produce the sugar. The George Washington University graduate student is descended from "a long line of maple sugarers." Historically, women oversaw the sap collection and sugar making, said Alexander Cotnoir, a citizen of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk-Abenaki Tribe, which has tribal lands in Barton, Vermont. "When we give thanks to creation, and we give thanks to the trees, we look at the maple as the leader of the trees because it gives us sap for medicine, and it gives us maple syrup." Lawrence River between New York and Canada. and eastern Canada, said Dave Arquette, a member of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation, Bear Clan, which straddles the St. The trees are intrinsic to Indigenous communities throughout the northeastern U.S. "When you round a bend in the trail and you see just a stand of maple trees, they're saying: 'We're here, this is our forest.' It's usually just an amazing spot, with shrubs, wildflowers and ferns." Whether they're wearing bright summer green or fall's brilliant orange, red and yellow or standing there in bare bark, they make their presence known. "Maple trees are the whole package," Finton said. But long-term concerns remain for the producers, Indigenous people and those who love the trees. The good news is maple syrup producers, working with university researchers and employing newer technologies, have extended their seasons and increased their syrup harvest. When you add drought and disease, "you're throwing multiple threats at these tree species, and they're dropping out of the forest and weakening entire ecosystems," said Andy Finton, landscape conservation director for The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts. for the sugar bushes, as the Abenaki call them, to remain where they've stood for centuries. And some believe it may get too hot in parts of the northeastern U.S. Rising temperatures affect the maple trees, with the warmer climate bringing more weather extremes, an earlier sap flow, shorter sugaring seasons and invasive insects. The continent's iconic sugar maple trees-revered for their sap and fall colors-can't escape the changing climate. But the sweet, amber syrup and the people who produce it today face an uncertain future.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |