Can you tap maple trees on public land in Quebec?

The route is two steps: first a reservation of a maple sector in the public forest ("réservation d'un secteur"), then the intervention permit for growing and operating a sugar bush for maple production, issued under the Sustainable Forest Development Act (A-18.1, ss. 80–86). Eligibility: you must hold, or be in the process of obtaining, a maple production quota from the Producteurs et productrices acéricoles du Québec (PPAQ), and your permit must not have been suspended or cancelled in the past five years. A new-project application must be tied to a PPAQ quota offer stating the number of taps it represents, and include GIS shapefiles of the sugar bush (area in hectares and tapping potential), planned buildings and mainline locations, and a description of forest-management work. Fees are a per-hectare rate set by pricing zone, payable in two equal instalments on January 31 and July 31, plus stumpage dues on any wood cut during silvicultural treatments (dead or windthrown wood used for maple operations may be exempt). The permit is valid for six calendar years (the Act says it ends on December 31 of the fifth year after issue). You can expand only after operating at 90% or more of tapping capacity for at least two years and building the roads and buildings in your application; renewal requires having operated at an average of at least 50% of tapping capacity over the term, and the Minister can cancel a permit left idle for three consecutive years or refuse renewal for public-utility purposes. Tapping standards are set by regulation (Regulation respecting sugar bush management in forests in the domain of the State): tap once a year between January 1 and April 30, only trees at least 20 cm in diameter at 1.3 m, a sliding maximum number of tapholes by diameter, bit no more than 11 mm wide and holes no more than 6 cm deep. Because the permit is tied to a PPAQ quota, there is no personal-use or hobby tapping permit on public land (not confirmed as a formal prohibition; simply no route found).

Quebec's national parks (Sépaq) are governed by the Parks Act, which says that "notwithstanding any provision of law" all prospecting and "any utilization, harvesting or harnessing of resources related to logging, mining or the production of energy" are prohibited within a park (s. 7), and that activities in a park require authorization where the regulation says so (s. 6). The Act's wording targets logging, mining and energy rather than tapping by name, and we did not open the Parks Regulation itself, so the park-specific tapping rule is not confirmed — but nothing suggests any route to tap in a park.

Town, county and roadside trees

Municipal land, regional parks and intermunicipal territory (TNO lands managed by MRCs) need the owner's or manager's permission. No municipal tapping programs were surveyed.

Private land you don't own

Get the landowner's permission, in writing. We did not open Quebec's Civil Code or trespass provisions, so no Quebec-specific damages rule is stated here (not confirmed).

Lease rates seen in the sources: Public forest: a per-hectare annual rate by pricing zone (the rate table page could not be opened in this session — not confirmed). No private lease-rate survey for Quebec was opened.