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Counties plan a sweet deal in the Larose Forest
progress for the Larose Forest. The planning department did an in-depth survey of the community forest and found “excellent po- tential” there for future use of the sugar ma- ples. The current bid proposal call concerns just the one parcel of sugar maple trees. “We have other areas,” Prévost said, “but they’re quite young.” Sugar maples have to have a minimum girth before they are ready for tapping. A young and mature tree may be able to ac- cept one tap while an older, larger tree can accommodate two or three at most. An estimate on the 49-hectare parcel of sugar maples under consideration in the Larose Forest indicates a potential 7000 to 8000 taps possible for a sugar bush opera- tion. One tap of sugar maple sap works out to about a litre of maple syrup after refining. “That’s a lot of maple syrup,” said Prévost. The counties will consider a lease ar- rangement of at least 15 years with a local syrup producer for the right to tap the trees in the parcel. Minimum bid acceptable is 50 cents a tap. The counties began advertising the bid request in local media the end of September and proponents have until the end of October to present their offers after a scheduled site review visit. The agreement would allow tapping of the trees but not setting up a refining facil- ity. The successful bidder will have to take the sap collected out of the forest to a sug- aring operation elsewhere for processing. Prévost noted that the local maple sugar
GREGGCHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
BOURGET | There are sugar maple trees that need tapping in the Larose Forest. The United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR) have a plan in the works to further expand the many uses of the community forest. Counties Planning and Forestry Di- rector Louis Prévost is keen to see the re- sults. “We’re quite excited,” he said during a Sept. 30 phone interview. “It’s a first for us.” The counties have issued a call for bids from local maple sugar producers interest- ed in getting the rights to tap a new source of sugar maple sap for their operations. The site is a 49-hectare parcel of woodland in the Larose Forest abounding in sugar ma- ples, mature and ready to tap. “This is a brand new idea,” Prévost said, adding that it sprang out of a counties plan- ning report done several years ago on the future development potential of the com- munity forest. The counties had once received an offer several years ago from a maple syrup pro- ducer for renting a parcel of the community forest for a tapping operation. At the time the counties office was intrigued but did not go ahead on the offer. Instead the idea was included in a pro- tection and development plan already in
industry has been aware for several months now that the counties were looking into the potential of the Larose Forest. His office wants
to make sure that the UCPR gets some extra and free public relations benefit for Prescott-Russell and the Larose Forest out of the arrangement. “Our forest technicians have gotten nu- merous calls already,” he said, adding that the final contract will also include “some- thing to help promote ourselves.”
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