CROGHAN — Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., was visiting Lewis County today to make a pitch for an expanded maple syrup industry.

Lewis County is the top syrup-producing county in New York.

The senator plans to speak at the American Maple Museum, where he will announce plans for a maple syrup bottling plant and urge the tapping of more trees in the region. He will describe a plan by Cornell University to build a maple processing plant and tout Lewis County as the ideal location. Schumer pledges to support this effort through appropriations and grants in the U.S. Senate.

Back in February, Lewis County agricultural leaders proposed to county legislators a study on the feasibility of a maple syrup packaging and distribution center. Such a center would allow local maple producers to tap more easily into large metropolitan markets, particularly grocery store suppliers, according to Michele E. Ledoux, executive director at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County.

The senator is a lead sponsor of legislation to encourage property owners to allow producers greater access to their maples through federal grants to the states. New York has 200 million more maple trees than Quebec but lags behind in maple production, his office reported.

He says the plant would make Lewis County the epicenter of a booming New York maple syrup industry and give a big boost to the local economy.

"The North Country stands ready and able to unleash the untapped potential of its maple syrup industry," Schumer said. "With millions of maple trees just waiting to be tapped, we have a great opportunity to increase production and sales with a statewide bottling center right here in Lewis County."

The senator says New York lags behind industry leaders, importing four times as much maple syrup as it produces.

The American Maple Museum, 9753 State Route 812, was founded in 1977 to preserve the history and evolution of the North American maple syrup industry.

Tapping sugar maple trees has been a long tradition in New York state, reports the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, and legend has it the first tree was mistakenly tapped by a Native American chief practicing tomahawk throwing. Warm days and cold nights are ideal for sap flow, and therefore, the typical sugaring season usually runs from late February through early April. The harvest season ends with the coming of spring’s warm nights and the first stages of bud development on the trees.

New York has about 1,500 maple producers, mostly small.