In Big Six conservation deal, one-quarter of Maine maple syrup output at stake

Deep in the reaches of the Big Six Forest, a 23,600-acre wilderness spread along the northern border separating Somerset County and Canada, lies one of Maine’s most productive maple sugar bushes.

Many of the maple trees in Big Six’s 4,000-acre grove are well over 100 years old and have been tapped for generations by eight of Maine’s largest maple syrup producers. Among them, Big Six’s producers churn out between 25 and 30 percent of Maine’s maple syrup. All of the Big Six operations are run by Canadian producers who, in many cases, handed down knowledge and expertise of the syruping industry through two or more generations.

But now the future of Big Six’s maple syrup producers — and with them the industry at large — hangs in the balance as a years-long attempt to save the forest runs up against its private landowner’s 2018 deadline to either secure roughly $5.7 million in conservation easement funds to help pay down his mortgage, or start cutting Big Six’s maples.

Losing that maple production could have a damaging effect on the state’s growing maple industry, said Kathryn Hopkins, of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, who added that neither she nor the extension has a position on the Big Six conservation deal. Maine relies on Big Six producers to maintain its position as the third-largest producer in the country.

Read more: http://www.pressherald.com/2017/05/27/big-six-conservation-deal-one-quarter-maine-maple-syrup-output-stake/