CARBONDALE, Ill. — Mother Nature’s warmer-than-usual winter has maple sap collectors worrying about a small crop this year – but admittedly, it’s coming on the heels of last year’s bumper collection.

There still is time for the Northeastern states, which produce the most maple syrup each year, to have ideal weather conditions – cold nights, preferably with a little snow cover – and temperatures that reach into the 40s during the day.

That type of information, with much more detail about how to collect sap, which trees to tap and how long to cook the substance, will be the focus again this year of the Midwest’s only Maple Festival in southern Illinois. Expanded this year to include two weekends, with the first set for Feb. 25-26, the festival at the Touch of Nature Center at Southern Illinois University Carbondale has drawn several hundred visitors each year.

This year, organizers hope to bring in at least 400 visitors during both weekends, said Kate Hellgren, the center’s environmental education program coordinator.

“The beautiful part of this is that there is no one who does this in the entire region. The closest one is in Pennsylvania (at Penn State), and they draw several thousand each year,” she said.

SIUC’s event not only features everything someone may wish to know about how sap is collected, but it comes with breakfast featuring fresh maple syrup, pancakes and sausage. “It truly is a fine family event. Kids love it, and so do parents,” Hellgren said.

The Maple Festival and Pancake Breakfast is set for 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Feb. 25-26 and on March 3-4. Breakfast will be served from 9-11 a.m. on all four days at Freeburg Hall and Sledgefoot Lodge on the center’s grounds. The cost of the festival and meal is $15 for those ages 13 and older and $8 for children ages 5-12. There is no fee for children age 4 and younger.

Those wishing to attend must pre-register by calling 618-453-1121 by the Friday before each weekend event – by Feb. 24 and by March 2.

Visitors can tour interactive stations set up throughout the grounds at their own leisure, including ones about tree identification and physiology, how to tap trees for sap and how to boil it into syrup.

Last year’s maple sap industry enjoyed one of its finest seasons, with about 2.79 million gallons produced throughout the United States. Most is drawn from the Northeast, with Vermont (1.14 million gallons) and New York (564,000) leading the way. Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan produced the most of Midwest states, with 155,000, 125,000 and 123,000 gallons made last year, respectively, according to the USDA.

Silver maple trees tend to produce the best sap for syrup because of its higher sugar content, although almost all maples can be tapped, Hellgren said.

In Michigan, collectors already have started tapping trees – some three weeks ahead of usual conditions. Larry Haigh, president of the Michigan Maple Syrup Assoc., said he’s “not overly optimistic”’ about this year’s crop.

He told a Michigan television station the state could produce the lowest total since 2000, when 44,000 gallons were made.