Sunshine in a Bottle!
“Peter, Peter, Peter!” the Tufted Titmouse songbird calls out in our woods. This lets us know in this part of the world that it’s maple sugaring time!
The staff of the Natural Areas Department, now the Environmental Interpretive Center (EIC), has been tapping maple trees and making syrup for educational purposes since the early days in the 1970s, continuing a historical connection to the property’s previous owner, Henry Ford. (Photo EIC staff)
We had just wrapped up our 2020 sugaring season when the pandemic changed the world that March. Although we have missed the camaraderie of making maple syrup with our longtime volunteers, the tufted titmouse and the maple trees continued their seasonal activities while we’ve been working from home, and, like many plants and animals, we are emerging from our “hibernation” as well.
Maple sugaring is dependent on a variety of factors: the presence of maple trees (usually sugar maples), an extended period of freeze and thaw cycles, and soil hydration. Our Environmental Study Area (ESA) is home to both old and young maples, including the “sugar bush" that Henry Ford and his companions had a “sugarhouse” where they boiled sap into syrup in the early 1900s. (Photo Getty Images)

The window for sugaring season is short, no matter where it happens. In southeast Michigan, it is often bookended between Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14) and St. Patrick’s Day (March 17). In the Upper Peninsula, and northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, the season might not begin until mid-March and go through the month of April. The farther north (or at higher elevations) the sugar maples, the later the season begins and ends. And that dumping of snow a couple of weeks ago? Folks who make maple syrup call that a “sugar snow,” since the trees will take the meltwater in from the thawing soil through their roots to send up as sap to nourish the spring buds.
The Massachusetts Maple Producers Association (MMPA) explains the conditions that determine a productive syrup season: “The tree’s sap flow mechanisms depend on temperatures which alternate back and forth past the freezing point (32 degrees F.). The best sap flows come when nighttime temperatures are in the low 20s and daytime temperatures are in the 40s.
The longer it stays below freezing at night, the longer the sap will run during the warm day to follow. If the weather gets too cold and stays cold, sap flow will stop.

If the weather gets too warm and stays warm, sap flow will stop. The cold weather at night allows the tree to cool down and absorb moisture from the ground via the roots. During the day, the tree warms up, the tree’s internal pressure builds up, and the sap will run from a taphole or even a broken twig or branch." (Photos by MMPA and EIC)

For good sap production, maple producers must have the alternating warm/cold temperatures. This is why it’s so impossible to predict the outcome of the maple crop from year to year.”  A summary of Vermont's syrup 2021 production season illustrates how these variables affected their season. 
In order to enjoy pure maple syrup on your pancakes, waffles, or vanilla ice-cream (an EIC staff favorite!), a surprising amount of sap is collected. The ratio for sugar maple sap to syrup is 40 gallons to 1. That’s right—40 gallons of sap boiled down to 1 gallon of syrup! Sugar maple sap is approximately 98% water and minerals, with only 2% sugar, a product from the previous year’s photosynthesis. Sunshine in a bottle! The sugar content in other tree sap is even lower, requiring more sap for syrup making. (Photo by cbc.ca)
Many centers like ours offer educational public programs about the history and science of maple sugaring, but make no mistake—maple syrup is a major product of international trade, and environmental conditions are a factor in the global supply chain. Fortune Magazine reports, “The pandemic has significantly increased demand for the “blonde gold.” So much so that global sales of maple syrup shot up by almost 37% in the last year, according to the Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (QMSP) association.” Experts say the spike was partly fueled by more people cooking at home during the pandemic, which has strained the supply. 

“Simultaneously, Quebec’s annual maple syrup harvest—which is responsible for the majority of the world’s supply—is lower than last year’s. Production of maple syrup in 2021 dropped by about 42 million pounds from last year’s record high of 175 million pounds, according to the QMSP. ‘In 2021, an early thaw caused the sap to start flowing at the same time across the province, and unusually warm temperatures in April brought the harvest season to an abrupt halt. Maple producers are at the mercy of Mother Nature,’ the QMSP said in a statement earlier this month.”
Drastic times call for drastic measures. In response to this supply shortfall, the world learned of the existence of a Canadian maple syrup vault, run by the organization that governs Quebec's maple syrup producers who, for 21 years, have been stockpiling gallons of the so-called "liquid gold" in a small town called Laurierville, about 70 kilometres southwest from Quebec City.

The Laurierville Plant and Warehouse covers an area of 24,805 square metres — just under the size of five American football fields, or three Canadian football fields. That site alone can store 25 million kilograms of maple syrup, or 94,000 barrels. The reserve was created in 2000 to keep syrup in stock and ensure a constant supply for national and international markets, regardless of the size of the harvest, Hélène Normandin, a spokesperson for QMSP told CBC's As It Happens. (Photo from cbc.ca)
Should we start hoarding maple syrup as we did with toilet paper and baking flour? "From our perspective, we believe it should solve the issue on the short term basis," said Philippe Charest-Beaudry, the owner of maple sweets producer Ste-Anne-de-la-Rochelle. "I don't see a season next year where there's no more maple syrup in the grocery store." 
Pass the syrup, please!
Save the Date!

Please consider supporting the EIC's mission of community outreach and education on March 16,
Did You Know?
How did this regional tradition begin in the first place? “According to the University of Vermont, the collection of maple sap to make maple syrup began long before Europeans settled in America. Although there are no written accounts to verify exactly when it was discovered, several Native American legends share a similar story.”

According to the Michigan Maple Syrup Association, “the Chippewa [Ojibwe] and Ottawa [Odawa] tribes of Michigan share a legend that begins with a god named Nanaboozhoo. (Photo courtesy MNopedia)
Accounts document how early Native Americans processed maple sap. To get maple sugar, Native Americans put the sap in wide, shallow bark vessels and left it out to freeze. This would separate the water from the sugar, and they would then remove the ice. As time went on, new and improved ways to process maple sugar emerged. Native Americans started building ‘sugar bushes’ "

This tradition continues--with a twist. Combine a syrup boil down with an owl prowl! The Detroit Audubon Society is partnering with the Detroit Sugarbush Project and others on Friday, March 4, to do just this! Registration and program information can be found here.
Tales from the Trails
Friend and volunteer Joe Turek reports frequent sightings of a charming little bird, the Brown Creeper. The Brown Creeper spends most of its time spiraling up tree trunks in search of insects, as seen in this video. It holds its short legs on either side of its body, with the long, curved claws hooking into the bark, and braces itself with its long, stiff tail. Their size and plumage look almost pixelated with tiny pixels of browns, rusts, and whites. The spring song is a treat to hear, because we usually hear only the simple call note. Enjoy the variety of sounds from this little bird of which Michigan ornithologist Jefferson Butler noted, "During October the brown creeper returns from the north. He is the most business-like of all the birds I have observed." This was a March 12, reflection on his 1911 bird survey at the Ford farm.
(Photo courtesy Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
Resources


Venturing outdoors and encountering nature is good for your physical and mental health! Our trails are accessible, so please visit our Environmental Study Area. Check out our Remote Learning Activities & Resources page for ideas to create a “Neighborhood Nature Journal” and “Family Nature Walk” activities!
Please stay safe, stay tuned, and stay engaged in learning activities while we eagerly wait for the opportunities to share experiences together. In the meantime, watch for our new online activities to satisfy your curiosity about the natural world.