Wisconsin ranks fourth in U.S.

According to Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources, the state ranked fourth in the nation as a producer of maple syrup in 2006, with 360 producers tapping sugar maple trees and boiling the sap down to produce 100,000 gallons of syrup, accounting for nearly 7 percent of national syrup production.

“Maple syrup production is a tradition in this area dating back for centuries, when Native Americans established sugar camps in the spring to tap trees,” says Derek Duane, director of the DNR's MacKenzie Environmental Education Center. “It is still very important to Wisconsin, which is reflected in the sugar maple being designated as the Wisconsin State Tree.”