Do you like Maple Syrup?

    I love maple syrup.  I put it on pancakes, waffles, french toast and even scrambled eggs!  Maple syrup comes to you exclusively from the New England area of the US where maple trees are in abundant supply.    These trees not only supply us with a sweet treat for our breakfast meals, they also supply us with a beautiful array of colors this time of year that millions of people flock to every year to get a glimpse of.

    Ever wonder how New England became a bastion of maple trees?   If you thought it was some by-product of some ice-age phenomenon you'd be wrong!   No, the reason the New England area is covered in maple trees is all do to deforestation.   When New England was still owned by Great Britain, New England was covered with pine trees (and in many parts it still is) that Britain wanted for its ship-building.   Trees were cut down in large swaths for this purpose.   Later, dairy farming became big business as well and more trees were cut down to make room that as well.  When dairy farming stopped being profitable, many of these farms were abandoned and Mother Nature took over and filled in the empty regions with trees that were still left over.   That tree was the tasty maple tree.

    The mistake that many environmental purists make today is thinking that areas that are deforested never grow anything back in its place.   We think that the land will become a barren desert or wasteland.  It turns out, however,  nature is remarkably resilient and adapts.  Nature abhors a vacuum.  It fills in with something else.  Sometimes something even better than before but was not given a chance because of the abundance of another inhabitant. 

    So next time you are sitting in your favorite breakfast restaurant and enjoying a stack of pancakes dripping with maple syrup, be thankful for the lumber and farming industries that deforested the New England Area in the 1700 and 1800's.   It wouldn't have happened without them!