Goodbye maple syrup: climate change pushing sugar maple out of Northeast U.S.

Having lived in the northeastern U.S. for some time before moving to Quebec, certainly some of the best things in these parts include colourful fall foliage and tons of locally-harvested maple syrup. Sadly, thanks to increasingly ‘weird’ and warming weather, the long-standing tradition and $65 million business of “maple sugaring” in the northeastern U.S. is in danger of becoming a historical footnote. … For some places in the Northeast, the sugar-tapping season is either getting shorter and shorter, sometimes lasting only a week, as it did in Quebec last year. … Warmer weather has also translated to problems with pests such as the pear thrip, and the non-native Asian longhorn beetle destroying maple trees. Deer populations have also exploded in some places, meaning that more maple shoots are eaten before making it to maturity. It requires a mature tree of 40 to 50 years old to make maple syrup safely. Chemical pollutants from acid clouds are also a factor of stress. "You have to look at the entire picture," says Timothy Perkins, director of the Proctor Maple Research Center at the University of Vermont. "Acid rain is always here now as a low-level stress. Then, when there’s some sort of climactic disturbance or pest outbreak, the trees go into a spiral of decline." …

Goodbye Maple Syrup: Climate Change Pushing Sugar Maple Out of Northeast U.S.