BIG SIX TOWNSHIP (AP) – Maple syrup producers responsible for 90 percent of the industry in Maine watched helplessly as their leases expired for property along the Maine border with Quebec.

The producers, who have invested more than $40 million in processing facilities, equipment and living quarters, have been awaiting word from a Connecticut company that purchased the land in March.

With so much at stake, several state agencies attempted last week to intervene on behalf of the maple growers.

Maine is the country’s No. 2 maple syrup producer behind Vermont.

About 90 percent of Maine’s syrup comes from trees in northern Somerset County, along the border with Quebec.

White Birch Paper Ltd. owns the land that many of the processors have worked for generations. The leases for 28 of the state’s 51 maple syrup processors expired April 30, but they were granted a 15-day extension.

That extension ended Friday with no word from White Birch.

White Birch is owned by Peter M. Brant and Joseph Allen. In March, White Birch and RFR Holding LLC of New York purchased the Papiers Stadacona paper mill in Quebec City, as well as Leduc Sawmill in Quebec.

Included in the deal were 100,000 acres of hardwood stands – 40,000 acres in Quebec and 60,000 acres just across the border in Maine.

The Maine Maple Producers Association offered to buy the land for $15 million to keep the syrup industry intact, but its offer was turned down.

“We really have no idea at this point what the future holds,” Eric Ellis of Maine Maple Products of Madison and Big Six Township said Friday.

AP-ES-05-15-04 1400EDT