Smoke and steam rose up from the shack on Sunday. Inside, Shannon Surdyk and Andy Allen toiled away, paying close attention to the various instruments used to turn maple sap into syrup. The process is labor-intensive and, in the Wild Center’s case, boutique. The shack only has room for a few people at a time, and holds just one evaporator.

Producing between 110 and 180 gallons of maple syrup per season, Surdyk said the operation wasn’t engineered for efficiency or chart-topping output. Rather, the shack serves as an educational showcase of the syrup production process during the New York State Maple Weekends. During those days, museum visitors were able to walk right up and watch — and smell — the evaporation in progress.

Staff members use a pump to move the sap from its depositories to a holding tank above the shack. From there, it’s a gravity-fed process. The sugarmakers use a valve to control the flow rate as the sap enters the wood-fired evaporating system. It then moves through several chambers, its sugar content increasing at each step as more water is boiled off.

The sap that is boiled in the shack has a uniquely-collaborative origin to its sourcing. It’s part of the Wild Center’s “Community Maple Project,” which relies on, and sweetly rewards, participation from residents living within a 5-mile radius of the museum. The project has been running since 2013, and accepts sap from mature sugar, red and silver maple trees according to Surdyk.

The holding tank, which allows sugarmakers to use gravity to their advantage as they control the rate at which maple sap flows into the sugar shack to be boiled into maple syrup, is seen at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake on Sunday. A tub for people participating in the Wild Center’s Community Maple Project to drop off the sap they’ve collected is seen on the right. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

Under the program, anyone in that area who has at least one tappable maple tree can collect sap and deliver it to the Sugar Shack. There are large containers outside of the shack for the sap to be deposited. Community members have a logbook where they record how many gallons of sap they are dropping off. The Wild Center staff will then boil the sap and, at the end of the season, return 70% of the sap’s equivalent amount of syrup to each participant.

It’s a free program and Surdyk said the Wild Center offers equipment and assistance to participants, helping to teach those unfamiliar with the collection process at first. She said this year, there are about 45 participants. The group includes people of all ages and experience levels — from families with young children to folks who are well into their retirements.

The Wild Center keeps 30% of the syrup, which it uses to provide free samples to visitors as well as at its pancake breakfasts and other programming events. Surdyk said that while it was a slow start, given the hearty winter, production this year at the Wild Center should be in good shape if the season can hang on for a bit longer than last year — when it ended at the beginning of April.

“I’d say we’re off to a good start,” she said. “I just hope the season goes a little longer into April this year.”

Maple sap runs rely on below-freezing temperatures at night and above-freezing — but not too warm — temperatures during the day. The 40s and 50s make for an ideal high temperature range. With temperatures not predicted to get below freezing last night, it won’t be good for sap flow.

Sap is boiled into maple syrup inside of the Wild Center’s Sugar Shack in Tupper Lake on Sunday. The evaporator has various chambers for the sap is it gets boiled down and its sugar content increases. The sap on the right had been boiling the longest, and had the most sugar, while the sap on the left was introduced to the evaporator most recently, and accordingly had the highest water content. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

But Surdyk said that one night of above freezing temperatures isn’t enough to bring the season to an end. She said the weather forecast looked a bit cooler, which would help the trees to recharge and prime them to release more sap toward the end of the week when it is expected to warm up again.

Without any signs of multiple nights in a row that remain above freezing, Surdyk was cautiously optimistic that sugarmakers’ hopes for an extended season locally could come to fruition. As is the case everywhere, she said that ultimately, sugarmakers will just have to wait and see.

While maple syrup production will continue there as long as the season allows, the Wild Center and the Sugar Shack are closed to the public throughout the month of April and the museum readies itself for the summer season.

Community Maple Project Coordinator Shannon Surdyk and Wild Center volunteer Andy Allen smile outside of the Sugar Shack at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake on Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)