maple toolbox

More Upcoming Maple Events

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We’re tapped and the production system is flushed and tight with great vacuum.  Many thanks to our students and technicians for getting the 2023 sap season underway!

Join the OSU Extension team on March 1st for the annual Woodland, Water, and Wildlife Conference.  Kathy Smith and Gabe Karns will be presenting a seminar early in the agenda titled “Woodland Owners, Maple Syrup, and the New Maple Toolbox.”  Book your whole day with us though as many other interesting topics will be covered including buckeye tree conservation, aquatic plants and wetlands, Ohio snakes, spotted lanternfly updates, urban coyotes, and more.

If you are a consulting forester, work with a natural resource agency, or are otherwise employed within the environmental and natural resource career field, please join us on March 15th for an in-service workshop customized for you!  Learn how to assess a woodlands potential, what equipment will be needed, what options are available to a landowner interested in maple sugaring, and what else is needed to establish an operation as an income opportunity.

State Service Forester Maple Workshop

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Shortly after the 2022 Maple Boot Camp concluded, we hosted a dedicated workshop for ODNR’s State Service Foresters.  To find out who is  your local forester, click here and consult the district map and contact list.

To learn more about ODNR’s State Service Foresters, visit their website here.

The goal of the workshop was 2-fold.  First and foremost, goal #1 was to educate and work with Ohio’s forester community around the topic of maple.  Maple gets mentioned a lot at professional conferences, workshops, seminars, and in day-to-day interactions; however, mentions are most often just in passing.  Therefore, having a dedicated full day to talk only about maple as it pertains to sugaring potential was an absolute treat.  And it was extremely well received.  Everyone in attendance, which was well over half of the Service Foresters statewide, left with an enhanced knowledge of maple and increased level of comfort and ease to speak with landowners about the non-timber maple opportunities.

Goal #2 was to introduce a maple toolbox for foresters and other natural resource professionals.  This is a collaborative project that is still a work in-progress; however, it is puts actual tools in trained hands to assess maple woods for sugaring potential.  High level site assessments and fine-scale granular inventories, resource lists to get connected within the state’s maple vendor and contractor community, basic information about maple pests and identification, and more.  The toolbox empowers our state forester community to be advocates for maple while they are out doing their job and interacting with Ohio woodland owners.  As the toolbox hits full stride, we are excited to share its impact and reach!