Beech maple mesic forest
The beech-maple association is a hardwood forest with sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and beech (Fagus grandifolia) codominant (Edinger et al. 2002). This is a broadly defined community type with several regional and soil variants. Beech maple mesic forests typically occur on moist, well-drained, usually acid soils, but around Onondaga Lake, calcareous soils]. This forest type has relatively few shrubs and herbs.
The beech-maple-basswood association represented the most common forest type in central New York in the late 1700s (Marks et al. 1992), and it remains common today. Neither of the dominant species in beech-maple forests is particularly fire tolerant, so widespread use of fire by the native people in the region would seem unlikely. Localized fires were used to clear land for fields, but the setting of fires to maintain extensive openings or even for understory clearing seems incompatible with the species make up at the time (1790s).
Of course, the eighteenth century was a time of major upheavals within native culture, especially in the years following the Revolutionary War. The Clinton-Sullivan campaign of 1779 brought “scorched earth” tactics against the Haudenosaunee and drove many from their homelands. In other words, the forests of the1790s did not necessarily reflect extensive traditional management by the Onondagas, due to the cultural disruption suffered in preceding decades. (See section on Fire for more information.)
The beech-maple-basswood association represented the most common forest type in central New York in the late 1700s (Marks et al. 1992), and it remains common today. Neither of the dominant species in beech-maple forests is particularly fire tolerant, so widespread use of fire by the native people in the region would seem unlikely. Localized fires were used to clear land for fields, but the setting of fires to maintain extensive openings or even for understory clearing seems incompatible with the species make up at the time (1790s).
Of course, the eighteenth century was a time of major upheavals within native culture, especially in the years following the Revolutionary War. The Clinton-Sullivan campaign of 1779 brought “scorched earth” tactics against the Haudenosaunee and drove many from their homelands. In other words, the forests of the1790s did not necessarily reflect extensive traditional management by the Onondagas, due to the cultural disruption suffered in preceding decades. (See section on Fire for more information.)
sugar maple Acer saccharum
Loskiel (1794) writes that “no fruit-tree is so much esteemed by the Indians as the maple (acer saccharinum), of which they make sugar.” And indeed, sugar maple continues to be esteemed by native and also by immigrant culture. But the Haudenosaunee revered it especially, as Parker (1968) writes:
The maple tree was one of the trees venerated by the Iroquois. It was in fact the goddess of trees and the only one to which a stated ceremony was dedicated and to which offerings were made. Pine, hemlock, elm and basswood of the forest trees were esteemed, but the Maple was a special gift of the Creator and every spring at the foot of the largest maple tree in each village a ceremonial fire was built and a prayer chanted by the keeper of the Maple Thanksgiving ceremony as he threw upon the embers pinches of sacred incense tobacco. The maple tree started the year. It's returning and rising sap to the Indian was the sign of the Creator’s renewed covenant.
Sugar maple is a dominant forest species of central New York, our state tree, and the source of beloved and economically valuable maple syrup. With its hard wood and stunning fall foliage, sugar maple also makes as an excellent landscape tree where space allows for its spacious crown.
John Bartram, approaching the Onondaga village in 1743, reports
. . . we descended easily for several miles, over good land producing sugar-maples, many
of which the Indians had tapped to make sugar of the sap (Bartram 1751 p. 39).
Loskiel (1794) describes the method for tapping the trees:
Each family provides brass kettles for boiling, and a number of smaller and larger wooden troughs or dishes, made of bark, for receiving the sap. When every thing is prepared, an oblique incision is made in the tree, which is renewed twice or thrice during the time of its running. A thin wedge of about three or four inches broad being forced into the lower pan of the incision, a funnel made of bark is introduced, by which the juice is conveyed into the wooden trough or dishes.
“Sugar boiling,” he reports, “is chiefly the employment of women.” Native peoples visited “sugaring” sites seasonally, set up camp and worked on sap collection. Unlike other sweeteners that contain little besides the calories, maple syrup provides minerals such as zinc, thiamine, and calcium, as well as antioxidant compounds that probably originate in response to the bark’s persistent exposure to sunlight.
Sugar maple is restricted to regions with cool, moist climates, its range covering the northeastern U.S. and parts of southern Canada. A shade tolerant, late successional species, sugar maple produces a “seedling bank” of offspring, the seeds germinating early in spring even when snow remains on the ground. If not eaten by deer, copious numbers of seedlings can carpet the forest floor. This tree is not fire tolerant, and even light ground fires may damage its thin bark. Hot fires can kill an entire stand and existing regeneration. The trees sprout poorly after fire.
Loskiel (1794) reports that “the Delawares call it the stone tree, on account of the hardness of its wood, but the Iroquois, sugar tree.” The hard wood of sugar maple is used for cabinets, floors, and many other products. Unfortunately, Asian long horned beetle threatens sugar maple populations throughout the Northeast
Loskiel (1794) writes that “no fruit-tree is so much esteemed by the Indians as the maple (acer saccharinum), of which they make sugar.” And indeed, sugar maple continues to be esteemed by native and also by immigrant culture. But the Haudenosaunee revered it especially, as Parker (1968) writes:
The maple tree was one of the trees venerated by the Iroquois. It was in fact the goddess of trees and the only one to which a stated ceremony was dedicated and to which offerings were made. Pine, hemlock, elm and basswood of the forest trees were esteemed, but the Maple was a special gift of the Creator and every spring at the foot of the largest maple tree in each village a ceremonial fire was built and a prayer chanted by the keeper of the Maple Thanksgiving ceremony as he threw upon the embers pinches of sacred incense tobacco. The maple tree started the year. It's returning and rising sap to the Indian was the sign of the Creator’s renewed covenant.
Sugar maple is a dominant forest species of central New York, our state tree, and the source of beloved and economically valuable maple syrup. With its hard wood and stunning fall foliage, sugar maple also makes as an excellent landscape tree where space allows for its spacious crown.
John Bartram, approaching the Onondaga village in 1743, reports
. . . we descended easily for several miles, over good land producing sugar-maples, many
of which the Indians had tapped to make sugar of the sap (Bartram 1751 p. 39).
Loskiel (1794) describes the method for tapping the trees:
Each family provides brass kettles for boiling, and a number of smaller and larger wooden troughs or dishes, made of bark, for receiving the sap. When every thing is prepared, an oblique incision is made in the tree, which is renewed twice or thrice during the time of its running. A thin wedge of about three or four inches broad being forced into the lower pan of the incision, a funnel made of bark is introduced, by which the juice is conveyed into the wooden trough or dishes.
“Sugar boiling,” he reports, “is chiefly the employment of women.” Native peoples visited “sugaring” sites seasonally, set up camp and worked on sap collection. Unlike other sweeteners that contain little besides the calories, maple syrup provides minerals such as zinc, thiamine, and calcium, as well as antioxidant compounds that probably originate in response to the bark’s persistent exposure to sunlight.
Sugar maple is restricted to regions with cool, moist climates, its range covering the northeastern U.S. and parts of southern Canada. A shade tolerant, late successional species, sugar maple produces a “seedling bank” of offspring, the seeds germinating early in spring even when snow remains on the ground. If not eaten by deer, copious numbers of seedlings can carpet the forest floor. This tree is not fire tolerant, and even light ground fires may damage its thin bark. Hot fires can kill an entire stand and existing regeneration. The trees sprout poorly after fire.
Loskiel (1794) reports that “the Delawares call it the stone tree, on account of the hardness of its wood, but the Iroquois, sugar tree.” The hard wood of sugar maple is used for cabinets, floors, and many other products. Unfortunately, Asian long horned beetle threatens sugar maple populations throughout the Northeast