The Wild Center has discovered a great new way to get
families out of the house on snowy weekend mornings… maple sugaring. In 2011,
The Wild Center in Tupper Lake began its Community Maple Project, in which
local families come to learn how to tap trees and turn the sap into maple
syrup. The main goals of the project are not only to educate the public on the
process of sugaring and the wonderful taste of fresh sap, but also to “create a
sweet source of income” for the local people (“Maple”). The Wild Center built
of off Tupper Lake’s long history of maple sugaring and created a season long
project for the community to come together and learn a new, valuable, and fun
skill.
In the early 1900s, Tupper Lake was known for its sugaring
business and actually possessed the world’s largest sugar bush. In the best
conditions, and with tappers working at their highest potential, each sugar
bush could produce about 20,000 gallons of maple syrup (“Tapping”). The Wild
Center staff realized that a great way to bring the community together was to
reunite the people with their town’s history and provide some sweet treats. The
Community Maple Project weekend tapping days include a free pancake breakfast,
workshops about backyard sugaring and safety, and, of course, maple tapping.
The Wild Center provides families with the taps and buckets for them to tap
their own trees and then collects the sap and turns it into maple syrup on
site. The Wild Center has a special tour of their sugar shack where they show
people how they turn the sap into syrup and even provide them with free samples
(“Tapping”).
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| ("Tapping") https://www.wildcenter.org/tap |
The Community Maple Project has become very popular in the
past few years, growing from 22 to 80 families and now tapping 800 trees (“Tapping”).
It is unknown whether this is a result of the increasing popularity of maple
syrup in recent years, word of mouth of local families, or the potential for
profit. I find it very interesting that one of the main goals of the project is
to provide families with an additional source of income. Because Tupper Lake is
a poor, rundown town, I wonder if The Wild Center is attempting to boost the
economy, or at least boost the welfare of some local citizens. Whether economic
growth was the goal of The Wild Center, or just creating a fun activity for the
community, the Community Maple Project is certainly benefitting the people of
Tupper Lake. Learning how to make maple syrup is certainly a sweet reason to wake up early on the
weekends.
"Tapping a
Wild Connection Maple (Thrive)." Wild Center. N.p., 18 Oct. 2013. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
"Maple
Weekends." Wild Center. N.p., 20 June 2013. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
This is really cool idea to boost the economy of the Tupper Lake area. Making some maple syrup is such a quintessential activity to do in the Adirondacks and I'm sure it will bring in some tourists. I've noticed that people in the Adirondacks are very creative about using their resources to boost tourism or to create a profit. I personally would love to go take a workshop on backyard sugaring.
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