In 2020, they added additional sites including the WSU Environmental Field Station at Meyer’s Point near Olympia, which is managed by Shults. With 2019 grant funding, Ganguly’s team set up their first syrup research site at the UW Pack Forest in Eatonville. “If we make maple syrup production an income-generating opportunity for these landowners, they can actually recoup some revenue and also practice sustainable forestry and get certified,” he says. You can’t harvest trees the same way as in non-riparian zones, so many small landowners lose income from not being able to sell timber. “The buffer increases to 200 feet if the stream has fish. “Riparian is the buffer zone along both sides of a stream,” Ganguly says.
He says Washington state has one of the strictest riparian zone management systems in the country, which is environmentally friendly but limits a landowner’s harvest flexibility. Indroneil Ganguly, associate professor in the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, is a wood products specialist who helps small landowners develop sustainable and profitable harvest practices. In addition, scientists at the University of Washington are investigating the potential for large-scale commercialization in the Northwest. Since that time, Zobrist and Patrick Shults, WSU Extension forester for southwest Washington, have joined in with new programs aimed at maple syrup production for hobbyists. As a hobby, you might boil 40 gallons of maple sap per day but as commercial, we boil around 4,000 gallons per day. “But going from hobby to commercial is a huge leap and we had a lot to learn. “Eventually, Neil said he’d like to make a commercial venture out of it,” Craney says. Intrigued, Craney joined McLeod’s operation-answering questions, doing research, and helping tinker with the production process. Ten years ago, Craney and Washington State University Extension forester Kevin Zobrist, who covers north Puget Sound, teamed up to provide educational workshops for small forest landowners in western Washington.Ĭraney says some of those landowners had been toying with the idea of producing maple syrup, including McLeod, who at the time was cooking his bigleaf sap over an open fire. His commercial success owes much to the curiosity of retired Skagit Conservation District forester Allen Craney (’73 Forest Mgmt.). We just planted 3,500 new trees all over the property from swamps to the mountains-in shade, sun, all different environments-to see what does best.” “But now we’re producing 500 to 700 gallons of syrup per year. “When I started in 2011, I could barely get a drop out of the trees,” McLeod says.
His is the first successful commercial maple syrup operation in the Pacific Northwest. That’s not to say it can’t be enjoyed on pancakes, says Neil McLeod, owner of Neil’s Bigleaf Maple Syrup company in Acme, where he taps 1,200 maple trees along the Nooksack River and cold ravines near Mt. The deep amber liquid is less sweet than the Midwest and eastern varieties, and thanks to its high mineral content, offers a rich earthy note that leading Seattle restaurants covet for specialty dishes and drinks. But this writer, for one, has sampled the complex, toffee-like flavor of bigleaf maple syrup produced right here in Washington state.