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Sugaring & Wildlife: Vermont’s Sugaring Operations and Potential Implications for Wildlife
Sirch, Matthias
Sirch, Matthias
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Abstract
The recent expansion of Vermont’s maple sugaring industry has raised questions about how sugaring operations impact wildlife habitat and movement. This study combined a landscape-scale geospatial assessment and a site-level field assessment to evaluate wildlife within sugarbushes across Vermont. Geospatial analyses showed that forests managed for sugaring disproportionately overlap with high-value habitat blocks, interior forests, wildlife corridors, and movement areas for several large mammals, and that sugarbushes occur in naturally sugar maple-dominant habitat. Field surveys at 20 sugarbushes found that these forests were predominantly mid-successional, sugar maple-dominated stands with limited large coarse woody debris and standing dead trees. Wildlife habitat and detections of bird and mammal species differed little between the core and edge of sugarbushes, and tap density and tubing showed inconsistent relationships with wildlife occurrence. No clear evidence was observed that tubing impedes wildlife movement, although effects on moose warrant further study. Results suggest that modern sugaring can support both maple production and wildlife, with opportunities to improve habitat by maintaining forest structural diversity, large standing dead trees, large slash piles, and wetland environments. Future research should further examine species-specific responses to sugaring infrastructure.
Description
Sponsor: Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (Forest Legacy Program)
Date
2026-06-01