CNAS Collaborates on Sugar Bush Program

Northern Michigan University's Center for Native American Studies (CNAS) is involved in a collaborative 2026 Sugar Bush ("iskigamizigan") program. Last Friday, a group met at the Vielmetti-Peters Conservation Reserve for a Spring Equinox event and ceremony, followed by a group snowshoe to identify maple trees that will be tapped for sap collection and processing.

The CNAS and its Native American community engagement class began working with the Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy (UPLC) on a Sugar Bush program last year. This winter, the Sault Tribe Culture & Language and MSHS Title VI have joined the effort. The expanded collaboration kicked off on Feb. 13 with a lunch and learn event on treaty boundary history, Anishinaabe teachings, and Sugar Bush activities and volunteer opportunities. The Spring Equinox gathering at the was the second of four planned activities.

"The Vielmetti-Peters Reserve was donated to the UP Land Conservancy 10 years ago, and is part of the Dead River Community Forest," said Emily Leach, executive director of the UPLC and an NMU alumna. "Our organization really strives to get people out on the land, and this Sugar Bush program is doing just that. Personally, I've been tapping trees for years. It really is a nice way to celebrate spring. But this practice goes back generations, when the Native Americans were the main caretakers of the land here, so we're celebrating that heritage, but with kind of a modern-day twist."

NMU Professor Emeritus Marty Reinhardt had been working on projects with students in the community engagement class on land-based education and signage to enhance the experience for people walking on trails in the Dead River Community Forest, which includes the reserve. That led to efforts to utilize the land in a respectful way, according to CNAS Director Tyler Dettloff.

"I walked a beautiful maple ridge here with Marty in the summer of 2024, and we decided to work with the UP Land Conservancy to create a program where we can tap these trees, engage with the land, invite people out to experience some of this space and collect some sap to make syrup to share," Dettloff said. "Anishinaabe stories talk about the importance of people coming together, especially during minokami, which means 'when the good earth is moving.' The flowing sap is a gift the trees give us. But it's not just about the syrup or the product; it's the process."

During a gathering of participants around a fire, before the group ventured out on snowshoes, Dettloff said, "We'll be identifying the maples and just talking to them about our intention to tap the trees. It's like Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote in Braiding Sweetgrass: 'Ceremony focuses attention so that attention becomes intention.'"

The Sugar Bush program's remaining events in April include: the initial sap boil at the CNAS Fire Site and a gathering at the Sugar Shack; and a sugar bush syrup open house, distribution and awards celebration at the UP Land Conservancy Office.