New England Environmental Group Tells U.S. Senate: Global Warming Poses Uncertain Fate for Maple Industry

Portsmouth, NH (March 13, 2002) — A potent combination of warmer temperatures, shorter winters, increasing drought, and the ravages of forest insect pests threaten to devastate an industry that brings more than $100 million annually to the state of Vermont alone.

In testimony before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in Washington today, Portsmouth-based nonprofit Clean Air-Cool Planet (CA-CP) asserts that if the US doesn't act to reduce greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, maple tree species are likely to migrate out of New England. Current maple syrup production is also under threat from climate change. In Committee Chairman Jim Jeffords' home state of Vermont, 2,000 farms — mainly family-owned — could suffer from the loss of maple sugar income. Collectively, tree tappers in New England and New York gather and distill approximately 75 percent of the maple syrup produced in the United States-a $30 million contribution to the nation's economy annually.

"Many of these sugaring families in New England have been careful stewards of their maple trees for generations," CA-CP Executive Director Adam Markham says. "It's up to our leaders in Washington to ensure that climate change is halted and New England's unique maple products continue to grace our family tables."

New England is coming to the end of what will most likely be its warmest winter on record, with much of the region also in the grip of extreme drought since the end of last summer. More frequent and longer dry periods along with earlier and more unpredictable tapping seasons are a real threat to maple sugar production. Sugar makers are reporting that the tapping season is starting earlier and earlier. Some now regularly tap as early as mid-February as opposed to bygone days of tapping after town meeting in mid-March.

"Energy efficiency and alternative fuels such as wind and solar are the real routes to energy security — not drilling in pristine wilderness areas," Markham told the committee. "If greenhouse gases are not curbed quickly, we may lose the sugar maple and much of New England's character with it."

Read the full testimony.

About Clean Air-Cool Planet
Clean Air- Cool Planet inspires coordinated action among citizens, businesses, government, and community leaders throughout the Northeast to achieve reductions in greenhouse gases. CA-CP has forged effective partnerships with major businesses and corporations in the region, including Shaw’s Supermarkets, The Timberland Company, and Verizon. Visit www.cleanair-coolplanet.org.

Contact: Clean Air-Cool Planet
Bill Burtis, Communications Manager, (603) 422-6464 ext. 105
bburtis@cleanair-coolplanet.org