MAPLE GROVE, Minn. (AP) — A Maple Grove couple is battling a park district over whether the couple has the right to continue tapping maple trees that used to be part of their farm.
Don and Elaine O’Brien, who are in their late 80s, have been harvesting sap for 30 years. The O’Briens believed they retained that right in 1981 when they sold 50 acres for a trail in Three Rivers Park District.
But last March a Park District official told the O’Briens to stop collecting sap.
Three Rivers associate superintendent Margie Walz tells the Star Tribune ‘‘It’s really private use of public property.’’
But Elaine O’Brien says the couple was told they were grandfathered in.
A park district committee on Thursday recommended denying the couple’s request for a tree-tapping permit.
