Stories from Husky Nation

  • A row of glass jars filled with maple sap and syrup ranging in a gradient from clear, in the distance, to much darker closer to the camera, sit on a table in the Nara Family Maple Center. A wisp of steam rises from the two closest jars.

    CFRES Students Tap into Spring’s Sweet Reward

    Students in Michigan Tech's College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science are tapping into seasonal experiences found in thousands of acres of University-owned forests and coming out with delicious memories — and maple syrup! Maple syrup making is an Upper Peninsula tradition, and students at Michigan Technological University are taking part. Many Huskies have tapped into Michigan Tech's forests over the decades in search of one of the region's most prized delicacies of spring. Forest health expert Tara Bal, assistant professor in Tech's College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, began teaching her Maple Syrup Management and Culture class in 2015 at Tech's Ford Center and Forest. Students collected sap from the Ford Research Forest and the village of Alberta, where Bal's class used both a wood-fire evaporator and the traditional Native American method: bringing sap to a boil with fire-heated rocks in a hollowed-out maple log. The class started as an independent study with 19 students its first year and has been full with 40 students every year it has been held since then.