Maple Madness planned later this month at Succop Nature Park
PENN TWP — Birds are returning, trees are budding, clock hands have been set ahead and sap is flowing. All signs point to spring.
Actually, the first official day of spring will be Tuesday, with spring officially beginning at 12:15 p.m.
And the Audubon Society will celebrate the end of winter with its annual Maple Madness.
The society will host its seventh annual Maple Madness event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 24 at Succop Nature Park, 185 W. Airport Road.
“The first seating is at 10 a.m. and the last seating is at 1 p.m., every half-hour in the main house,” said Chris Kubiak, director of education with the Audubon Society.
“They will be able to enjoy a pancake and sausage breakfast with real maple syrup before heading out on the maple trail to see how maple syrup is made today and how it was made in the past,” said Kubiak.
Kubiak added, “While we will be tapping trees on the property — red maple and sugar maple — the syrup we will be using is from Emerick's Maple Syrup in Somerset.”
Ryan Stauffer, the park naturalist, said, “The tour will show maple sap tapping, how the Native Americans did it, how the early settlers did it. There will be experts on hand to answer any questions. And people are welcome to hang out afterward, and walk the trails if the weather is nice.”
What's been nice about the recent weather, said Stauffer, is it has been perfect for maple sap.
“It's been a long, slow sort of warm-up in the spring,” he said. “The freezing nights and above-freezing days really drive the sap up at night and down during the days.
“It's really a harbinger of spring. It's one of the different ways at looking at the arrival of spring,” said Stauffer of the maple sap tapping.
“The Native Americans has sugar maple season for a month or so, using the time to make sugar from the sap from the maple trees. It was a valuable trade item,” he said.
“The Native Americans gave the information to the settlers which proved to be very valuable. People take it for granted how common sugar is now,” said Kubiak. “Sugar was a highly esteemed item. Making it was a community event.”
Maple-tapping used to be popular in Western Pennsylvania, according to Stauffer.
“People made their own maple syrup. Everyone had two or three trees in their yard,” said Stauffer.
Maples were the main source of sugar in the United States until the mid-19th century when the rise of mass-produced cane sugar took over the market, he said
The rising sap is also attracting some returning birds, said Kubiak, such as the yellow-bellied sapsucker.
The sapsucker is named that, Kubiak said, because the species will bore parallel holes in a maple tree's trunk or branch to let the maple sap weep out.
“It might drink a little of the sap,” said Kubiak, but the sapsucker, which is really a woodpecker, is really after the small insects that will be drawn to the sweet sap. Or will be once the daytime temperatures reach the 40s.
Kubiak said bird species are starting to move north with sapsuckers, robins and grackles leading the way.
And while many might be cheered by the thought of an early spring and milder weather, Kubiak sees it as a disquieting trend.
“What we are seeing is not new species but species coming north earlier and earlier,” he said. “Falls are lasting longer and springs are coming earlier.” This means winters are getting shorter.
“It's tied to climate change,” said Kubiak. “A hundred years ago we would still be cutting ice out of ponds and rivers into April. That's been a huge change.”
“Springs are coming earlier and earlier,” he said.
“It's climate change. Over time, the trend is undeniable,” he said. “The warmest years in the last 20 years have all happened since 2000.”
The change in seasons has implications even for the maple trees due to be tapped next weekend.
“I would expect in the forest for sugar maples to be phased out, ”Kubiak said. “The climate change is forcing it to happen. It's so rapid, the forests can't adapt fast enough.”The effects are being felt already.Kubiak said, “In the 1940s, '50s and '60s maple sugaring was a full-time business. Now it is just a seasonal business or a hobby. People can't produce the amounts needed to be profitable.”Other crops could also be affected by climate change. The apple, grapes and hardwood industries in Pennsylvania might not be able to adapt to the changing climate.“In 2012, the entire Michigan cherry crop, a billion dollar industry, was wiped out when the trees flowered early followed by a monthlong freezing,” said Kubiak.The opposite of what is happening to the climate is what is happening in the heavens,The vernal equinox will take place on schedule at Tuesday afternoon at 12:15 when the plane of Earth's equator passes through the center of the Sun's disk.Simply put, it is the point in which the center of the visible sun is directly over the equator.Traditionally, at the time of the vernal equinox, spring would arrive in many parts of the northern hemisphere and so it was given the name spring equinox.The arrival of springvaries from year to year depending on how severe the winter is in North America, and it also differs from state to state in United States.But the Old Farmer's Almanac is forecasting a cool and rainy spring for the area including Butler County, followed by hot, wet summer.
