Urban sugaring a success for one Haligonian, but city not so sweet on idea

Growing up among the concrete and asphalt of New York City, Brian Longo was fascinated by nature and the idea of using the nature at hand to produce food.

Longo says he remembers travelling to California as a kid, seeing orange trees on a boulevard and people stopping their cars to go pick the fruit.

"I thought that was one of the best things I've ever seen," he said. "Using public land for something that people can use. It just makes sense to me."

So when he moved to central Halifax last year and spotted a maple tree next to the street in front of his home and another in the back, he was determined to produce maple syrup from them.

Since it was his first time, Longo turned to the "school of Google" for tips, and by the end of February had a plastic bucket and hoses hooked up to both trees.

Over the course of about a month, he collected 113 litres of sap, which he boiled down using an outdoor propane tank. His efforts resulted in about two litres of maple syrup.

"Maple syrup on pancakes are probably one of my favourite things in the world. So to be able to have actual maple syrup that I produced here, I think is really neat."

Longo said the tree he tapped in front of his house is on municipal property, and he searched online beforehand to see if there were any bylaws against tapping it, but he didn't find anything specific about that. And, he figured that since he's seen other people use the narrow strip of land between the sidewalk and the street for gardens, it would be OK.

Technically, it's not.

Bylaw against damaging trees

Crispin Wood is the Halifax Regional Municipality's manager of urban forestry. He said the city's tree bylaw prohibits activities associated with tapping municipally owned trees.

"It is arguably detrimental to a tree," Wood said. "If you're drilling a hole in a tree, you are potentially exposing that tree to pathogens and allowing fungus to enter the tree, which could infect the tree and eventually cause tree failure."

He said trees planted between the sidewalk and road already face stressors, such as poor soil conditions, salt from the road and the coast, pollution and heat from the asphalt in the summer.

"So, you know, drilling holes and draining sap from a municipal tree is not something we would likely support just ultimately because it's a negative to a tree."

Wood said there are probably no more than 100 sugar maples on public land in the municipality, but the city is experimenting with newer cultivars of them to see if they survive better.

Few sugar maples in city

Peter Duinker created the Halifax Tree Project, which conducts research and education with the goal of managing urban trees sustainably.

He said since there are so few sugar maples in the city, he questions whether Longo actually tapped a sugar maple or if it is another type of maple tree.

He agreed that tapping street trees "may not be a sensible thing to do," but said it would be fun to have a knowledgeable person tap municipal trees in other areas, such as parks, as a demonstration project. He suggested the proceeds of the syrup could go toward a charity.

In other jurisdictions, groups have encouraged urban sugaring by renting or selling kits to people with maple trees on their own properties.

Duinker supports planting more sugar maples in the city because they have strong wood and don't grow as quickly as other types of trees, which means they wouldn't grow into power lines quickly. He added that there are plenty of places to plant sugar maples outside of the narrow strip of grass along streets.

But, he admitted, he's a bit biased toward sugar maples.

"If I had to name a favourite species, it's either eastern white cedar or sugar maple. I think I have maple sap in my veins."