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HomeBusinessSenator Hauschild Efforts Get Temporary Reprieve for Local Syrup Producer

Senator Hauschild Efforts Get Temporary Reprieve for Local Syrup Producer

In an email dated December 12, Min­nesota Senator Grant Hauschild, District 3, DFL, wrote that the Minnesota DNR re­treated from its de­mand that Maple Hill Sugarbush & Farm in Grand Marais remove its tapping equipment by the end of the year. According to Haus­child, the DNR will work with Maple Hill operators Mark and Melinda Spinler to create a new leasing model for the future.

This retreat from the DNR is a welcome re­lief for the Spinlers, as it allows them to con­tinue syruping into the 2025 season.

As we reported in November, Maple Hill Sugarbush has oper­ated for 25 years. It produces maple syrup from sap gathered un­der a maple tapping permit first issued by DNR officials in 1998, which it faithfully re­news yearly.

Part of its sugar bush is on the Spinler’s property, but most of its sap comes from an adjoining 10-acre maple tree stand on DNR-managed prop­erty. With the assur­ance of a renewable permit, the Spinlers invested their savings, bought commercial production equipment, built a sugar house, and installed a system to bring sap from the leased stand directly into storage tanks at the sugar house.

Last winter, the DNR informed the Spinlers that they could no lon­ger lease the maple stand, a crucial part of their farm income. The DNR had awarded a logging contract for the parcel, which has since been canceled. The DNR gave the Spinlers until year-end to remove all the gath­ering systems they had installed and main­tained over the past 25 years.

The Spinler’s 15-acre sugarbush (ten of which is on DNR land) is ideal for a ma­ple tapping operation. It has mature maple trees, a natural grade leading to their home­stead a 1⁄4 mile away, and no other designat­ed use of the proper­ty by the state. It’s a remote stand entirely out of the public eye and rarely sees people other than the Spinlers and their friends, who help them tap the ma­ples each spring.

When reached this week for comment, the Spinlers expressed their relief at the re­prieve for this season. However, they remain hopeful, yet cautious, that negotiations, if they take place, would bring the long-term certainty they need for their operations.

“The DNR has ad­vised us that we don’t need to take our equip­ment out,” Melinda Spinler said. “But they’ve yet to commit to us that we can tap this spring.”

Hauschild wrote, “This progress would not have been possible without the loud and clear voices of local supporters in letters, phone calls, emails, and meetings. Our community is united in the demand to save Maple Hill Sugarbush and Farm.”

The Spinlers credit Senator Hauschild and his Legislative Assis­tant, Jamie Hysjulien, for finding this tempo­rary solution to their troubled negotiation with DNR officials.

In his recent email, Hauschild wrote, “This victory is an example of how community and elected officials can come together and make the government more responsive to the needs of its peo­ple and function as a ‘State that Works’ for all Minnesotans.”

Steve Fernlund
Steve Fernlund
Columnist Steve Fernlund is a retired business owner living in Duluth. He published the Cook County News Herald in Grand Marais at the end of the last century. You may email comments or North Shore news story ideas to him at steve.fernlund@gmail.com. And see more at www.stevefernlund.com.
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