Sugarhouse at Houlton High

Late last spring, volunteers started building a 20-foot by 28-foot sugarhouse on the Houlton High School woodlot (commonly known as the Bird Farm). The sugarhouse will be used by Todd Willard’s outdoor education students to produce maple syrup. Using very primitive equipment, Willard and his students have produced a small amount of maple syrup for the past 11 years.
    The new sugarhouse will include modern sugar making equipment and will have the potential to produce greater amounts of syrup. As planned, the sugarhouse will be open to the general public and other school groups during a portion of the school year. The sugarhouse will allow students to apply many of the lessons learned in math and science classes to the production of a valuable forest product.
Many local businesses and individuals have donated time, equipment, materials and money to make the project a success. The project was started with $4,100 in cash that included a $2,500 PLT Greenworks Grant, a $500 donation from Paradis Shop and Save, $1,000 from a 2008 Bird Farm timber sale, and $100 from individual donations. Other companies that have contributed greatly to the project include Buildings Etcetera, Nelson Construction and Jim Brown, Steelstone Industries, S.W. Collins Co., Horten Building Supplies, Ross Sheet Metal, LP Building Products, Huber Engineered Woods, Bither Construction, Maine Cedar Specialty Products, Sherwin Williams, Dow’s Eastern White Cedar Shingles (Corinth) and Applicator Sales and Service (Portland).
Individuals who have donated time to help build the sugarhouse include Herb Pottle, Travis Libby, Fred Pelletier, Kevin Brannen, Jon Harbison and Dave Harbison. The site for the sugarhouse was cleared by students from the Region Two School of Applied Technology and by Willard’s outdoor education students.  The Maine Forest Service forest rangers provided a chipper and crew to the site-clearing project. Finally, Willard and the local Maine Forest Service forester collaborated on several grant applications and have helped with construction.
At present, the Houlton High School sugarhouse team is working to get additional grant funding for a state-of-the-art evaporator. The $5,000 system will make the sugarhouse a world class high school facility.      To learn more about this project or the Bird Farm property, call Dan Jacobs at 441-4128.