Dan Crocker, owner of Sidelands Sugarbush and UVM graduate, is a large scale sugar maker in Westminster West, VT. Over the years he has slowly expanded his operation to be one of the biggest in Southern Vermont. This interview was conducted on March 26, 2012.
Q: How many acres is your sugarbush?
A: 250 acres
Q: How many taps to you currently have?
A: 23,000 taps
Q: What is your average annual production?
A: 8000 Gallons
Q: How has the production been over the last 10 years?
A: The addition of sterile spouts, improvement of tubing
techniques, more tubing (yardage) and use of vacuum pump have all increased
production and efficiency of production.
Q: What are your production costs?
A: $30-$40 per tap making $3 per tap, hard to tell though
Q: How does the community benefit from the sugarbush?
A: The sugarbush conserves forest by keeping the land from
being developed. It provides wildlife habitat and also a natural place for
recreation in the community. By
purchasing materials within the community I positively impact the economy.
Also, I provide jobs for local people!
Q: How do you utilize water in the maple sugar production?
A: We use water to wash down all the equipment, and also we
use water in the vacuum system.
Recently I have been using oil in the vacuum, and soon it will be completely
run by oil
Q: Where does this water come from?
A: There are several springs on the sugarbush, and that’s
where we pump the water.
Q: Do you see a relationship between diameter growth/ height
and proximity to water?
A: Usually, sugar maples like to be in drier areas in order
to keep their roots dry. Once the roots spread they start to be submersed in
groundwater which causes them to not look as healthy. In wetter years, the
maples up on the hillside do better, and in dry years they do well in the
valleys. It varies a lot on the weather during that particular season.
Q: Are there any adjacent wetlands in the sugarbush? What
role do you believe they play in growth and development?
A: There is a small marshy area and most of the maples don’t
like to grow there.
Q: What are some key environmental conditions that make good
syrup? Daily, seasonally and climate?
A: Not hot like it was this year! The temperature is really
what good syrup is dependent on. Below freezing at night and slightly warmer in
the day time. Also there needs to be variation in weather like cold snaps and
storms to get the sap flowing. Snow runoff is very important, even a small
amount of water will get the sap really flowing in. Warm temperatures will
decrease sugar content!
Q: How does moisture content of soil during different season
affect sugar content and yields of sap in the spring?
A: No one knows!
Q: Do you see a connection between grade of syrup and water
availability?
A: No, grade of syrup is totally dependent on temperature
and the system in place to boil.
Q: What stresses in the natural environment, which are
enhanced or accelerated by human activity that degrades maple syrup production?
A: There isn’t a lot of human activity in the sugarbush, but
bad logging practices can cause erosion. If there is acid rain, it can be bad
for the trees, but we have limestone bedrock which balances out the pH levels.
Q: Does the production of Maple Syrup have any ecological
impacts on wildlife diversity?
A: I am creating biodiversity because I have a monoculture,
sugar maples like monoculture, naturally do well together and the dominant
species. In the sugarbush there are many owls and other animals. It’s a place
that’s different then the surrounding area and it is habitat that animals can
live in. There are some variation in different tree stands.
Q:What other uses of the forest do you see? How are you
working to manage those activities?
A: Lumber, hiking, biking, horseback riding, hunting and
four wheelers. The trails are open for people to use them. I want people to use
and enjoy the forest!
Q: Have you noticed any effects on the sugarbush and sap
production caused by climate change? Do you see any effects that potentially
may affect you in the future?
A: Not that I have seen, I don’t believe in climate change.
I have been tapping earlier but I’m actually ending later some years. There
have been some years where I am ending early, but after 30 years I haven’t
noticed any trend.
Q: What are your management practices for dealing with
runoff?
A: Water bars are our many source of runoff prevention. The
most heavily used roads I put heavy rock and gravel to prevent erosion. Also I
try to keep the 4-wheelers off the steep trails.
Q: Where is your syrup going?
Locally, nationally?
A: Putney and Brattleboro co-op
to sell, Highland Sugar Works and Bascoms Maple Farms to package and then they
distribute them wherever they sell their products.
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