"It's been fantastic. We seem to be far enough north that we've been keeping up with the cold enough that we're not having our trees bud out yet. We've been having a decent length for our season. ...The need of having below-freezing temperatures at night and the 40-degree temperatures or so during the day helps the tree working almost like a pump as it's bringing that sap up and bringing it back down."
Naturalist Mike Dunker, on the maple syrup season at Wild River State Park east of North Branch. Dunker said the park has collected nearly 300 gallons of sap since the first weekend in March. Dunker said this week is likely the last good week for sap production because of the warmer weather.
