As part of the Urban Sugar Bush Maple Tapping Project, a partnership between Northwestern University and the American Indian Center of Chicago, the City of Evans-ton issued permits to install taps on three Evanston parkway maple trees on the 1300 and 1400 blocks of Dobson St.
The taps were installed on March 23 and since then, more than two gallons of fresh
sap have collected, resulting in two cups of fresh, Evanston-grown maple syrup.
Northwestern Associate Professor Susan Hespos and American Indian Center of Chicago Urban Ecology Coordinator Eli Suzukovich contacted City Assistant Director of Forestry, Parks and Greenways Paul D’Agostino and three healthy maple
trees were chosen for the process.
The trees are expected to continue producing sap for a while longer, as they begin to bloom. Sap from the sugar maple tree will be boiled down to maple syrup. It takes about a gallon of sap to make a cup of maple syrup.