Tom McCrumm is a big picture kind of guy. He views things as if from an airplane, where he can see how each bit of land fits in with, influences, and connects to the greater topography. Though he makes his living making maple syrup on his South Face Farm (www.southfacefarm.com) in Ashfield, Tom has shown an ongoing commitment to helping the many pieces of the western Massachusetts puzzle come together to protect the greater landscape, and the culture and opportunities that lie within it.

Tom has always had an interest in open space conservation. As an avid outdoor enthusiast, he places a lot of value in land that is available for recreation, whether it is for mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing, skiing, or any of Tom’s other favorite “leisure” activities. As a maple producer, Tom also knows the value of Massachusetts’ maple stands, stands that, if not protected, could quickly disappear forever. It is his desire to do his part to conserve this resource  that has motivated Tom to serve as the coordinator of the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association (www.massmaple.org) for nearly two decades, in addition to the full time job of running his farm. Through Mass Maple, Tom is very active in statewide outreach, doing his best to advocate for maple conservation, educating maple producers on best management practices, and encouraging good marketing and business strategies in order to make maple production a viable enterprise. The big issue for Tom is “preserving our maple stands as a resource, particularly in southern New England. One of the reasons why maple is not that big of an agricultural commodity here in Massachusetts is because so many of the traditional maple forest stands have been cut, either for logging or housing or some other reason.” Unlike other agricultural products that can be produced from scratch in a season, slow growing maple trees can take generations before they have sugar production value.  “It’s a long term thing,”explains Tom, “and many people don’t think beyond the next day or next month,certainly not two generations down the road. This is something I try to impress upon maple producers, that this is a unique resource here in Massachusetts, where forest fragmentation is a big issue.”

As part of his big picture thinking, Tom likes to find ways to bind communities and neighbors together, which may be one strategy to overcoming the problem of land fragmentation. He is very involved with a group,a “nonentity”, that calls itself the Ashfield Trails Committee, whose goal is to build an extensive trail network throughout the town of Ashfield and beyond, connecting private lands with conservation lands, for hiking, biking, and skiing. For a nonentity comprised of a handful of volunteers, the trails committee has already had a lot of success, with trails conceived of and built between several Ashfield area conservation lands--not an easy feat when these trails must go through privately owned land. The pro bono help of a sympathetic lawyer and the dedication and negotiation skills of Tom and others in the group have demonstrated that with enough energy, it is possible to get people to see their land as just a piece of a greater environment, and to want to connect to other pieces.  The trails committee runs a column on the state of the trails in the monthly Ashfield newsletter and through this column they are finding more and more landowners who would like to get their land involved in the trail network. The more people that see the value in allowing a portion of their land to be used for recreation, the easier the work of the committee becomes. If they continue with the same rate of accomplishment, the Ashfield Trails Committee should have completed a 12-mile network of mapped and well marked trails in the near future.

Connecting lands with each other and conserving maple stands are two of Tom McCrumm’s major goals, and both have a great impact on the conservation of the western Massachusetts landscape, environment, and New England heritage. While Tom is sure to encourage landowners to use the best conservation methods on their own land (and he does so himself at South Face Farm), it is his big picture philosophy that will likely be his greatest legacy in Massachusetts.

Tom McCrumm's sugarbush. About 10 acres of South Face Farm is managed sugarbush. Tom also taps and manages maple trees on other people's property around Ashfield. During maple syrup season, South Face Farm operates a popular roadside sugarshack and weekend restaurant.