Audubon’s Bird-Friendly Maple Program Launches in Pennsylvania

A lot of work goes into making maple syrup, but for Brian Warwick, owner of Sticky Bucket Maple in Potter County, Pennsylvania, the payoff comes when the barrels fill and he gets to sample the finished product.

“It tastes like it has butter in it. It’s incredible,” Warwick said.

But Warwick’s mission for his 327-acre farm goes beyond making great maple syrup. He also wants to keep the forest healthy and productive for years to come.

That commitment led Warwick to become Pennsylvania’s first maple syrup producer recognized through the National Audubon Society’s Bird-Friendly Maple program.

“The long-term goal is to keep this place sustainable and pass it on to the next generation,” Warwick said.  

Established in Vermont in 2014, Bird Friendly Maple works with maple syrup producers who manage their sugarbushes—forests managed with a goal of harvesting maple sap—in ways that benefit nesting and migratory birds. The program has since expanded to nearly 150 producers managing over 23,000 acres of forest in the Northeast and the Great Lakes.

A bird-friendly sugarbush is more than a stand of mature sugar maples. Through the program, producers work to maintain a diversity of tree species and ages, along with multiple layers of vegetation.  

That means young trees and shrubs are allowed to grow, creating food, cover, and nesting sites for birds like the Wood Thrush. Producers also leave some dead trees standing. These “snags” create food and shelter for woodpeckers and nuthatches. On the forest floor, downed trees and other woody material are left in place, providing habitat for Ruffed Grouse and ground-nesting species like the Ovenbird.

More than 70% of Pennsylvania’s forests are privately owned, making collaboration with private landowners critical to managing forests for birds, whose eastern forest populations have declined by 27%. Bird-Friendly Maple offers landowners a way to combine conservation with a working forest rather than having to choose between the two.  

“This is a market-based approach for landowners,” said Scott Parkhill, Senior Program Manager of Forests at Audubon Mid-Atlantic. “Maple producers are able to create their product while also improving the long-term health of their forests.”

Brian, along with partner Wanda Warwick, co-founded the farm in 1999. Today, Sticky Bucket Maple harvests sap from approximately 14,000 trees and produces roughly 2,600 gallons of syrup each year. The farm, which has been certified organic for five years, includes dense forest, fields, and Christmas trees.

For Warwick, caring for that forest is part of what makes the operation sustainable. Practices that may look small on their own can add up and help to maintain the variety of habitats that birds need while keeping the forest healthy for the future.

“You need to love the work,” said Warwick. “We work hard for the long-term goal to keep out invasive species and to preserve a healthy forest for the birds.”

Sticky Bucket Maple may be the first Bird-Friendly Maple producer in Pennsylvania, but its participation in the program represents a broader opportunity across the Mid-Atlantic. As more maple producers embrace bird-friendly forestry practices, they can help create healthier, more resilient forests, one sugarbush at a time.

For more information about the Bird-Friendly Maple program in the Mid-Atlantic, please contact Scott Parkhill at Scott.Parkhill@Audubon.org.  To purchase Sticky Bucket Maple's bird-friendly syrup, visit their website.