Connecticut Projects

Bird-Friendly Maple in Connecticut

Our Goals
Stabilizing declining forest bird populations by increasing the acreage of healthy forests.
What We’re Doing
Publicly recognizing maple producers who are implementing best practices to improve forest habitat.
A male Black-throated Blue Warbler perches on a tree branch.

Through the Bird-Friendly Maple program, Audubon supports producers who are committed to managing their sugarbush (a forest stand from which sap is harvested to produce maple syrup) in ways that benefit nesting and migratory birds.

The majority of Eastern forest-dependent birds – whose populations have dropped by over 25 percent in the last 50 years - inhabit privately owned land. This is where we scale our impact.

Maple producers voluntarily enroll in our program, and when they agree to implementing practices to improve habitat for birds as well as overall forest health, they earn Audubon’s public recognition.

Maple products come from forests managed in very different ways. By purchasing bird-friendly maple syrup, you are supporting producers who are committed to managing their forests in ways that benefit an incredible variety of nesting songbirds, including Scarlet Tanagers, Wood Thrushes, and Veeries.

Look for the Maple Managed for Birds label the next time you buy maple syrup! If you really want the perfect breakfast, sip on some Bird-Friendly Coffee too!

Producers managing their sugarbush for birds

Centennial Watershed State Forest
Monroe, CT
Contact: deep.stateparks@ct.gov
Read more about the State Forest here.

Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust
Woodbury, CT
Contact: Vincent D. LaFontan, vince@flandersnaturecenter.org, 203-263-3711
https://flandersnaturecenter.org

Forest Mill Farm LLC
Coventry, CT
Contacts: Brian Murray and Kelley Barber, info@forestmillfarm.com
https://forestmillfarm.com

Great Mountain Forest
Norfolk, CT
Contact: info@greatmountainforest.org
https://greatmountainforest.org

Hilltop Farm
Redding, CT
Contact: Michelle Sandone, hilltop.farm.redding@gmail.com
https://hilltopfarmllc.com
Instagram: @hilltop.farm

Mount Archer Woods | Town of Lyme (tapped by Fat Stone Farm)
Lyme, CT
Contact: Wendolyn Hill, openspace@townlyme.org
Link to trail map here.

Sharon Audubon Center
Sharon, CT
Contact: Eileen Fielding, eileen.fielding@audubon.org
https://sharon.audubon.org

Shelton Land Trust | Nicholdale Farm
Shelton, CT
Contact: Info@sheltonlandtrust.org
www.sheltonlandtrust.org

Upper Paugussett State Forest
Newtown, CT
Contact: deep.stateparks@ct.gov
See a map of the Upper Block where the sugarbush is located here.

The Wenzel Sugarhouse
Hebron, CT
Contact: Ron Wenzel, rlwenzel@snet.net

Once the nights become warmer in late March and the maple tapping season ends, nesting birds start to move in to our forests. But these birds need more than just maple trees to thrive.

Through Bird-Friendly Maple,  we partner with maple producers to return sugarbushes to a more natural state.

The shift will benefit nesting songbirds, including Scarlet Tanagers, Wood Thrushes, Black-throated Blue Warblers, and Veeries—and make the resulting product more appealing to bird-loving consumers.

WHAT IS A BIRD-FRIENDLY SUGARBUSH?

Through applied forest management, bird friendly maple producers strive to improve habitat quality in their sugarbushes to optimize breeding and foraging opportunities for forest birds in decline. A bird-friendly sugarbush is managed for the following features to not only provide great habitat for forest birds, but also improve the health of the sugarbush:  

  • A diversity of tree species and age classes; more than just mature sugar maple
  • Complex structural diversity: layers of vegetation; from small seedlings on the forest floor, to saplings and shrubs, to the canopy overhead
  • Standing dead trees and live trees with cavities; the bigger the better
  • Large logs and branches on the forest floor

A DELICIOUS CONSERVATION PROJECT

Bird-Friendly Maple is a collaborative effort to integrate bird conservation with Connecticut's maple syrup industry by:

  • Promoting sugarbush management practices that support birds, forest health, and sustainable sap production
  • Publicly recognizing maple producers for considering bird habitat in their sugarbush
  • Increasing awareness of the important role Connecticut's forests play in bird conservation
  • Educating consumers about maple syrup and its many natural benefits.
Program Contacts

Rosa Goldman

Senior Associate, Forest Program, covering Connecticut and New York's Hudson Valley

Claire Mann

Senior Associate, Forest Program, covering New York

Seek Out The Scarlet Tanager!

Consumers with an appetite for conservation should look for maple syrup containers with the Scarlet Tanager “seal of approval” indicating that the syrup comes from a sugarbush that is intentionally managed for birds and biodiversity.