What can maple tree tapping tell you about temperature and changes in our climate?
Though it only happens for a handful of weeks each year, tapping maple trees, collecting sap, and boiling to make maple syrup is seen as a marker of changing seasons. The sap-collecting season does not just yield maple syrup, it also yields a sign of the coming of spring and what’s happening with the climate. Follow the family at Stoney Acres farm through maple sugaring and syrup boiling to discover more about the future of maple syrup in the state.
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Questions to consider
Have you ever tasted maple syrup made in Wisconsin? Have you ever participated in the collection of sap to make maple syrup? What stands out to you about the process for collecting sap Kat describes?
What is done to the sap to make maple syrup? How much sap do you need to make a gallon of syrup? Is that what you would have expected before learning about it? Why or why not?
What does an earlier or shorter sap season mean for producers and consumers? How might the availability of maple syrup change, or the price?
On the map
Athens, WI
Athens is one of the communities in Wisconsin that contributes to the state being 4th in the country for maple syrup production.
In their words
“I love the tradition of it. It’s this rite of seasonal passage, and it’s the advent of the coming of spring.”
– Tony Schultz
For educators
Access the educator guide for this story for extension activity ideas, discussion questions, a background information essay, and standards supported.
Production credits
Producer and Director
Finn Ryan
Videography
David Nevala
Editing
David Nevala
Photography
David Nevala
Music
Asche & Spencer
Captioning
Catie Pfeifer
Essay
Erik Olson
Web Design
Charles Barrows
Web Development
John Vieth
Special Thanks
Kat Becker
Tony Schultz
Stoney Acres Farm
Educator advisory cohort for 2024 updates
Illeana Alexander
Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission
Odanah, WI
Darien Becker
Welty Environmental Center
Beloit, WI
Dolly Ledin
Education Chair, Wisconsin’s Green Fire
Madison, WI
Lisa Johnson
UW Climate Leadership Team and Dane County Extension Horticulture Educator
Madison, WI
Leigh Kohlmann
Retired Middle School Educator and Independent Science Education Consultant
Oakfield, WI
Lynn Kurth
John Muir Middle School
Wausau, WI
Victoria Rydberg-Nania
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Portage, WI
Cathy Techtmann
University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension Environmental Outreach and Community Development Institute
Pence, WI
Julie Uram
Nature At The Confluence
South Beloit, IL
Sarah Wright
Eagle School
Fitchburg, WI