Sugar Maple and Brook Trout
What’s the relationship between Sugar Maple trees and Brook Trout? At the surface level, it’s fall color. They share brilliant colors of reds and oranges in the fall: the Brook Trout as they develop their spawning colors and the maple trees as their leaves change color.
But, there’s a deeper relationship between Sugar Maple and Brook Trout: cold water.
In addition to being beautiful, Brook Trout need cold, clean, well-oxygenated water. They are native to Eastern North America and are restricted to lakes and streams where water temperature remains below 65 degrees F. Particularly in Wisconsin, cold groundwater from springs and upwelling is essential to keep rivers cold enough to support Brook Trout during the summer. So, ample, high quality groundwater is essential for Brook Trout.
Groundwater comes from rain and snowmelt percolating into the ground and reaching an area of soil saturated with water. This area of waterlogged soil below the surface is called an aquifer, which is a body of groundwater. In certain places where the surface intersects the groundwater level, springs develop where water flows out of (springs from) the ground. Likewise, when the bottom of a river (or lake) intersects with the groundwater level, groundwater flows into the river (sometimes called an upwelling). Where are the best places for rain and snowmelt to seep into the soil to become groundwater? You got it: Forests! The trees and other plants in the forest slow down the rain as it falls to the ground and their roots ensure the soil is able to soak in water. In sum, forests are excellent at capturing rain and snowmelt and letting it seep into the ground. And, in the process, the soil also filters the water resulting in high quality groundwater.
Therefore the trees in our forest don’t only produce maple syrup, they also produce Brook Trout (and oxygen, and drinking water, and wildlife habitat, and…). And, when you buy a bottle of Tapped, you’re supporting the protection of the forest, and these beautiful fish.