HOULTON, Maine — Right now, students at Houlton High School are making maple syrup “like the colonists did,” Maine Forest Service District Forester Dan Jacobs said Friday.
For each of the last 10 years, students in the outdoor education class under the supervision of teacher Todd Willard have tapped trees, collected sap, gathered firewood, boiled the sap to make syrup and bottled the finished product. The entire process takes place on the high school woodlot, known as the Bird Farm, in late spring. The students boil the sap while standing in melting snow. There is no protection from the elements.
But thanks to grants and donations, the Bird Farm Committee, which includes Jacobs, will build a modest-size sugarhouse to be fully operational next year.
The committee recently secured a number of grants and donations to fund the construction of the sugarhouse, according to Jacobs. A $2,250 GreenWorks grant through Project Learning Tree will support the project, as will the donation of $700 in materials from J.M. Huber Corp. and $500 from Paradis Shop ’n Save. Local businesses Nelson Construction, Steelstone and Buildings Etcetera will do the groundwork for the sugarhouse and construct a concrete slab.
Local volunteers also are going to participate, and students have raised $1,000 for the project.
“This is really going to do several things for the students,” Jacobs said Friday. “It will give the students more protection from the elements and allow them to concentrate more on the process of tapping trees and making syrup instead of keeping warm. Right now, they spend more time shivering than watching because they have no protection from the cold and wind. This also will give them the ability to bring in groups for tours. This would be a great project to show to younger students and community members, but they can’t because there is no facility there.”
It also will allow Willard to expand on what he is already teaching students by showing them how the work is done with modern equipment.
“Right now, the equipment these students are using is pretty primitive,” Jacobs said Friday. “The students are doing it the way the colonists did. The new facility is going to have modern equipment so the students can see how it is done today and learn the newest technique.”
At this point, students make about 2 gallons of syrup a year. Each student takes a small sample home, and the students hold a pancake breakfast with the rest.
Jacobs did not discount the possibility that the students eventually could have a commercial operation going.
“We are not looking at the commercial part of it at this point, but that could happen in the future,” he said. “Maybe the syrup could be sold as a fundraiser.”
Jacobs said he does not want to pass on any of the expense of constructing the sugarhouse to the district and is optimistic that grants, donations and volunteer labor will fund the project.
The design of the sugarhouse will be complete in a few weeks. Construction on the new facility is set to begin this summer, with plans for a completed sugarhouse for the 2011 sugaring season.
For more information about the project or to donate, e-mail Jacobs at dan.jacobs@maine.gov.