DALLAS COUNTY, Iowa - The Dallas County Conservation Board is holding demonstrations on how residents can make maple syrup from their maple trees.
A pop up maple syruping boil demonstration will take place at Sportsman Park this Saturday morning.
The public is invited to drop by between 8:30 and 12 noon at Sportsman's Lodge outside of Dawson and learn about the process.
Dallas County Conservation Board Outreach Coordinator Ken Keffer says the demonstration's meant to inspire people to join a practice that has a rich history in the northern Midwest. "We hope to inspire lots of folks to tap trees next year." said Keffer. "It's really a pretty simple process, and it goes way back to an important part of our history here in the northern states region."
The conservation board started tapping the park's maple trees in early February when temperatures rose above freezing in the daytime and dropped back down at night.
The process includes drilling small holes in maple trees, installing taps and hooking up collection systems. The tree sap is then collected for several weeks.
Keffer says it take awhile to make a significant amount of syrup. "For those folks doing it at home, it's about 40 gallons of sap that makes one gallon of syrup."
Conservation board naturalists will be on hand Saturday morning to answer any questions visitors might have about tapping maple trees and boiling down the sap to make syrup.