Bangor Daily News article about the tribal sugaring project: Passamaquoddy Chief Joseph Socobasin said Friday that he has marketing on the mind as his tribe starts a major new maple syrup venture they hope will lead to jobs and some revenue. After receiving a $1.5 million grant last year through the federal Administration for Native Americans to tap trees on a large swath of land the tribe owns in western Maine, they have hit the ground running, he said. This year, the tribe expects to place 4,000 taps, with the eventual potential for 80,000 taps on the 60,000 acres they own in the Jackman area. They’ve also purchased a reverse osmosis machine that will take much of the water out of the sap right away, so that it will take less time and fuel to boil into maple syrup. “The plan down the road for us is to start bottling and marketing our own maple syrup,” Socobasin said. “Once we’re a couple years into this and we’re producing enough, we’d like to go to L.L. Bean and places like that. We have blueberries, maple syrup, maybe a pancake mix — we could sell it as a gift pack in a tribally made basket.” He said that the tribe is hoping to get its sugar bush organically certified this week. “It would go hand in hand with Passamaquoddy values, trying to do everything as organic as possible,” he said. Penobscot Nation Rep. Wayne Mitchell said that his tribe also owns a lot of land with a lot of sugar maples on it, and that he feels it’s very positive that LePage has been working with the tribes to increase their maple syrup production. It’s likely that the Penobscots would tap more of their trees and run more plastic tubing through the forests to collect the sap, and then sell the raw product to a sugar house, he said. “It would be a good venture to get into. Anything we could do to make the economy better and make jobs, we’re going to try,” Mitchell said. “We’re one of the 10 largest landowners. It’s natural to ask us to participate, and of course we’re more than willing to be a part of it. I love maple syrup — and we’re the ones who taught the Europeans what it was, along with a lot of other things.” Passamaquoddy Chief Joseph Socobasin said Friday that he has marketing on the mind as his tribe starts a major new maple syrup venture they hope will lead to jobs and some revenue. After receiving a $1.5 million grant last year through the federal Administration for Native Americans to tap trees on a large swath of land the tribe owns in western Maine, they have hit the ground running, he said. This year, the tribe expects to place 4,000 taps, with the eventual potential for 80,000 taps on the 60,000 acres they own in the Jackman area. They’ve also purchased a reverse osmosis machine that will take much of the water out of the sap right away, so that it will take less time and fuel to boil into maple syrup. “The plan down the road for us is to start bottling and marketing our own maple syrup,” Socobasin said. “Once we’re a couple years into this and we’re producing enough, we’d like to go to L.L. Bean and places like that. We have blueberries, maple syrup, maybe a pancake mix — we could sell it as a gift pack in a tribally made basket.” He said that the tribe is hoping to get its sugar bush organically certified this week. “It would go hand in hand with Passamaquoddy values, trying to do everything as organic as possible,” he said. Penobscot Nation Rep. Wayne Mitchell said that his tribe also owns a lot of land with a lot of sugar maples on it, and that he feels it’s very positive that LePage has been working with the tribes to increase their maple syrup production. It’s likely that the Penobscots would tap more of their trees and run more plastic tubing through the forests to collect the sap, and then sell the raw product to a sugar house, he said. “It would be a good venture to get into. Anything we could do to make the economy better and make jobs, we’re going to try,” Mitchell said. “We’re one of the 10 largest landowners. It’s natural to ask us to participate, and of course we’re more than willing to be a part of it. I love maple syrup — and we’re the ones who taught the Europeans what it was, along with a lot of other things.” 3.18.14 BDN article
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 01:24:37 +0000
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