Stay in Touch with MDC news, newsletters, events, and manage your subscription
Xplor reconnects kids to nature and helps them find adventure in their own backyard. Free to residents of Missouri.
A monthly publication about conservation in Missouri. Started in 1938, the printed magazine is free to residents of Missouri.
Kansas City, Mo. – Trees are still in winter’s grip in February, but it takes just a few warm days during the month to make tree sap flow in anticipation of spring. That sap can be collected and turned into sweet syrup, especially maple syrup. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) will offer a free virtual maple sugaring program from rom 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 15.
When you see a bucket hanging on a tree trunk in late winter, someone has tapped the tree to gather sap for syrup. Hard maples, also called sugar maples, are favored because their sap has a higher sugar content than other species, thus it takes less sap to make syrup. Other tree species can also be tapped. They have differing flavors, but they also require more gallons of sap to be boiled into a quart of syrup. Yet, some people do tap a variety of trees to make syrup.
MDC’s virtual Sap to Syrup will also by offered from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 15, by Steve Jacobsen, MDC assistant manager at the Gorman Discovery Center. This program will cover tree selection, equipment, and techniques for turning sap into syrup. The program is open to participants ages 8 and older. Registration is required. To register, visit https://short.mdc.mo.gov/4k4.
