The Spinlers begin maple syrup season while future remains uncertain

The 2025 maple syrup tapping season has begun in northern Minnesota.

For individuals who enjoy the recreational hobby or have built a business around maple syrup, this time of year is typically a season of hard work intermixed with excitement and joy.

For Mark and Melinda Spinler, owners of Maple Hill Sugarbush in Grand Marais, this maple syrup tapping season is also accompanied by trepidation and uncertainty concerning the future of their business.

For over a year, the Spinlers have been in ongoing discussions with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) about using state land for their business and the ability to leave their maple-tapping equipment in place year-round.

Since the late 1990s, the Spinlers have operated a maple tapping business on their property near County Rd 60 and on 10 acres of adjacent state land. The Spinlers have nearly 600 maple syrup taps on state land and approximately 100 on their property.

Throughout the past 25 years, the Spinlers have maintained a series of long-term leases with the DNR to use state land. The Spinlers said they had left their tubing and equipment on the landlocked and “geographically isolated” 10 acres of state land year-round, based on original agreements and historically a good working relationship with the local Grand Marais Forestry Office.

Last year, on March 31, 2024, the Spinler’s 10-year lease with the DNR expired, and the DNR chose not to renew the lease.

Erik Evans, the DNR assistant communication director, told WTIP in December 2024 that one of the reasons the DNR did not renew the Spinlers long-term lease is a statewide shift away from leases and instead towards offering annual permits. The annual permit requires that all maple syrup tapping equipment be removed from state land at the end of the season.

Given their expansive tubing system, the Spinlers told WTIP the annual permit option cost to remove the equipment after each season and reinstall it would be “thousands and thousands of dollars to do that.”

Following the involvement of Minnesota Senator Grant Hauschild in late 2024, the DNR and the Spinlers began lease negotiations to try and find a solution that would work for both parties.

In December 2024, the DNR told the Spinlers that a decision about how to move forward would be made in early 2025.

As the maple tapping season neared, which tends to begin in February or early March, the Spinlers were presented with two options from the DNR. However, Mark Spinler told WTIP that neither option is financially feasible for their operations and business.

“It continues to be very frustrating,” said Mark Spinler.

On Feb. 7, two DNR officials sat down with the Spinlers to present and discuss the two options.

During the meeting, the DNR offered the Spinlers an annual maple tapping permit or a 5-year storage lease that would allow the Spinlers to leave their equipment on the state land year-round.

“All of the options align with state statute and allow the Spinlers to continue maple tapping,” Amy Kay Kerber, who works within the DNR Forestry, wrote in an email to WTIP.

Kerber said the cost of the storage lease would be “queued off current market county land values for the number of acres impacted by equipment.”

The annual lease fees are calculated at a set rate of 7.25% of the land value multiplied by the acreage included in the lease, Kerber said.

Mark Spinler said after running the numbers, the cost per tap to harvest the maple syrup would increase by 12 times. “That’s not tenable.”

In a recent email sent to neighbors and friends and shared with WTIP, providing an update on their situation, the Spinlers wrote, “As you can probably imagine, if the cost of our only raw material were to go up that much, we could not continue to make local syrup.”

Despite not having a financially feasible solution to continue operating their business and the maple syrup tapping season now underway, the Spinlers decided to move forward with the annual permit option.

“We couldn’t wait any longer to get started preparing for the sap run,” Mark Spinler told WTIP. “So we got a permit for this season from the local office.”

The annual permit requires the Spinlers to remove their equipment from the state land by May 31, 2025.

In the meantime, the Spinlers hope Senator Hauschild will continue advocating for them at the Minnesota Legislature. Hauschild has recently introduced SF 2955.

The bill includes modifying terms in maple syrup leases and permits, stating that a lease or permit must be for a term of not less than 10 years unless the applicant requests a shorter term. The bill also proposes the lease or permit must not include a requirement to remove taps, containers, tubing, or other related equipment during the term of the lease or permit.

Kalli Hawkins March 29, 2025