Maple trees are turning color, leaves are dropping, and soon the sap will go dormant until late February or March, when the sugaring season traditionally starts.
Maple trees are turning color, leaves are dropping, and soon the sap will go dormant until late February or March, when the sugaring season traditionally starts. But over the coming decades, climate change is likely to alter the timing of that cycle, and producers should brace themselves for the impact of rising temperatures on their industry, according to a Dartmouth study of six sugar maple stands from Virginia to Quebec.
In some locations, "as the climate gets warmer, the sugar maple tapping season will shrink and get closer to a December date," says co-author David Lutz, a research assistant professor of environmental studies.
Lutz says maple syrup production is affected by two climate-sensitive factors. Sugar content is determined by the previous year's carbohydrate stores. Sap flow depends on the freeze-thaw cycle. As a sugar maple tree thaws, the sap begins to move through the tree to the tap.
Read more at: Dartmouth College
Students tap trees, collect sap, boil the sap into maple sugar, and give educational tours at the Organic Farm. (Photo by Caleb Forrest Town)
